Columbus East to distribute food again Friday

Columbus East High School’s food pantry is getting close to ending its food outreach to the larger community.

Greg Lewis, who has organized the monthly pantries during the COVID-19 pandemic said that there will be food distributions this Friday and on May 20th. After that the pantry will go back to just serving the students in need at the school, as it was originally intended.

Lewis said that the pantry expanded its role during the pandemic because of the need for food help in the community. But it has always been labor intensive. As a department head at the school, he was able to flex his time to organize the pantry. But he is retiring at the end of the school year.

Friday’s drive-through food distribution will be from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. at Door 31 in the west parking lot behind Columbus East near the tennis courts. There will be enough food for about 200 families but due to strong demand, you can only pick up two collections of food per car. Columbus Animal Care Services will also be distributing limited amounts of pet food.