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Income Guidelines
Income guidelines, based on family size, are updated annually by the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services. The links below go to documents with tables that show yearly gross income for each family size. If your household income is at or below the income listed for the number of people in your household, you are eligible to receive food.
- Eligibility Guidelines English
- ODJFS04224 Eligibility Guidelines Spanish
- ODJFS04224 Eligibility Guidelines Somali
- ODJFS04224 Eligibility Guidelines Russian
Rev. 7/2022
Pantry Rules:
Please be kind. To our volunteers, those visiting, and anyone you’re interacting with. We will do our best to always be kind and we ask for the same in kind.
Be Respectful of others: Maintain a courteous demeanor towards fellow participants, fostering a supportive and inclusive environment.
Park in Designated Parking Spaces: Ensure vehicles are parked only in designated parking spots and refrain from parking in fire lanes and not next to the sidewalks to prioritize safety.
No lining up outside: Please refrain from forming lines outside the building before opening hours to maintain order and safety for all visitors.
Wait until you’re Registered: Please refrain from accessing resource tables, books, giveaway items, until you have been registered.
Anyone that chooses not to follow the rules of the pantry program will be given a verbal warning, then if not following the rules further will be offered alternate resources and asked to not return.
Someone arriving 3 hours early or someone arriving 2 hours early or even 45 minutes early will be placed in a “lottery”. There will be a random draw for those waiting before the regular time that we start handing out pagers. Arriving early will place you in this “lottery”
Pantry Pagers will be given out 20-30 minutes before the start of the pantry.
One pager per vehicle. All families in the car may come inside once the pager goes off.
It will be loud, will vibrate, and will flash. A single flashing red light just means it’s on, not that it has gone off. The last pagers we give out will be based on how many people we have in cue prior to closing times.
We will open and close promptly as times are posted.
The current hours of the pantry are 10:00am-12:00pm and 2:00pm-4:00pm.
Arriving Early? Please understand if you arrive before we hand out pagers roughly 30 minutes before we open you will be placed in a lottery system of pagers and this will not be first come first served to the location. This is the only way we can ensure the lack of fighting for who was first to our location.
Arriving near the end of our open hours? Depending on the time of arrival we may stop handing out pagers up to 45 minutes – 1 hour before we are scheduled to close. Why? Because we have to estimate the cue number of people still in need of being served.
Please check the door and this website for updates and closing
announcements or any changes.
There are two accessible ramps into the location on either side of the sidewalk facing our location.
There is a restroom that is available at our location that is accessible and is to the immediate right of the door.
There is a button to the right side of the door on entry and left side of the door on exit that is powered and will assist with the opening of the door at our location.
On the right side of the room is a community mini drink cooler that we welcome anyone to take a beverage as they are available.
To the right of the room at the entrance there is a selection of books that may be taken and returned or taken to be kept. We ask at this time you limit to taking no more than 5 books per visit.
The location is at 1902 Needmore Road in Dayton Ohio. It is directly behind JJs Chicken and Fish and in the corner of the Plaza.
Arriving Early? Please understand if you arrive before we hand out pagers roughly 30 minutes before we open we you will be placed in a lottery system of pagers and this will not be first come first served to the location. This is the only way we can ensure the lack of fighting for who was first to our location.
Arriving near the end of our open hours? Depending on the time of arrival we may stop handing out pagers up to 45 minutes – 1 hour before we are scheduled to close. Why? Because we have to estimate the cue number of people still in need of being served.
Pagers are handed out at our location before we open. Currently we have three different sets of pagers. Each pager is numbered and vibrates, flashes, and alarms.
We ask that you only take one pager per car, no matter how many families are traveling with you to our food pantry.
The pager styled to the left of the image above is in white or black. It has a flashing red light that will continuously flash. This just means that it’s connected. It doesn’t mean that you have been paged. If you notice your light is not on, please let us know.
The pager styled to the right in the image above has a number on the top of the paging unit. This number may appear dim but should be visible.
Both units at times can be out of range of the base and also it is possible to silence the pagers in your pocket. If you are in doubt please check in with the front desk for and questions on being paged. The system isn’t always perfect but it helps us not have hundreds of families in a line to get inside.
If you are leaving for any reason please return the pager to the front desk.
When the pager alarms or notifies you please bring it to the front desk for registration.
If the pager hasn’t gone off feel free to check at the front desk for timing if needed. Wait times for our pantry location can be over an hour at times considering how busy we are, the weather, and the time of year.
Once your pager goes off and you come to the front desk please hand the pager to the volunteer at the desk.
The volunteer will ask you a set of questions to be registered. These questions are given to us to ask by the Foodbank as a partner agency.
We ask that you provide a photo I.D. and proof of residency at this time.
Once you verify that information you will be given a registration card and asked to go have a seat while volunteers take care of the details of your visit.
At this time you may pick up for yourself and if you have a note from another person as well as their photo ID and details needed to register you may pick up for one additional household.
We will provide a reminder card on the entrance desk to remind you that visiting our pantry is only once per month at this time.
After registering you will be handed a card that will have information for volunteers about your visit. Currently you will be asked to have a seat and a volunteer will come and take the card from you and follow the card instructions for your visit to our pantry.
For one household: You will be given a cart with your items on the top of the cart. You will then be given the choice to pick items from the tables that we will set up. Sometimes there will be personal care, household cleaning items, drinks, pastries, and at times there may be very limited or no items at all. These items are donated to us and we give them out as they come into our location.
For two households: One household will be on the top of a cart and one household will be on the bottom of the cart. You will then be given the choice to pick items from the tables that we will set up. Sometimes there will be personal care, household cleaning items, drinks, pastries, and at times there may be very limited or no items at all. These items are donated to us and we give them out as they come into our location.
You are more than welcome to take books from our lending library or along the wall and resources that we may have or offer. Please limit the number of books you take to five at this time.
We ask that you move through the items and make selections at a steady pace. We only ask this as carts are limited and having carts ensures that we continually move forward and keep assisting those that are in cue. We ask that you take the cart to your vehicle and then return the cart inside of our location. Sometimes volunteers may be outside looking for carts to bring them in. The carts do have trackers on them because we have had people take a cart home with them.
If you are walking we ask that you do not take the carts home with you. We need the carts to be able to continue a smooth operation and give back to the community. If you are walking we also ask that you move the cart outside to unload the items into wheeled shopping carts or other items you may have to load up before your departure.
Common Questions and Answers
Question:
How many times can I use your pantry each month?
Answer:
Currently you can use our pantry services once per calendar month. You must be a resident of Montgomery County. If you are not a resident of Montgomery County we will still serve you one time but will refer you to a pantry in your own county. That means that we will serve your family once per month.
If you have had a delivery from us or come into our location it counts as your visit for the month.
Question:
Do I need an appointment to come into your location?
Answer:
No, you do not need an appointment but please note the current pantry hours. While our location may be open at other times, our pantry is currently only available at the pantry hours.
Question:
What do I need to bring with me when I am requesting food?
Answer:
We ask that you have a form of ID and proof of residency such as a utility bill.
Question:
What does your pantry offer?
Answer:
Our pantry offers an emergency portion of food normally consisting of shelf stable foods. The items we receive vary and sometimes can be very random. Our pantry also offers as available, (pet food, personal care items, household cleaning items, seasonal items)
Question:
Do you only serve the LGBT Community?
Answer:
No, We serve anyone that is in need that lives within Montgomery Country and qualifies based on the rules set up by the Food Bank for us.
