Grabill, Indiana, a small town in northeast Allen County located between Fort Wayne and Auburn, was founded in 1902 in the heart of Amish Country and retains its original charm – and founding family members – more than 120 years later.
Nayda Miller is the great-granddaughter of Grabill’s founder, Joseph A. Grabill, and serves as director for Grabill Food Bank. She first connected with the Maysville Road Meijer in Fort Wayne in 2011 about potential partnership opportunities.
“We are so greatly appreciative of the Meijer Simply Give program because we didn’t know how we were going to fund Grabill Food Bank then,” said Miller. “Every year, every cycle of the campaign [since 2011], we have been a recipient.”
Miller has seen the program evolve and grow over the years into Double Match Days that further both the food bank and the community’s ability to support their neighbors. This growth means Grabill Food Bank can provide not just basic food items but also fresh produce, meats, dairy, and more.
“We have reached out to our community and met their food insecurity needs at all levels – seniors, veterans, single parents, kids,” Miller explains. “It’s been very nice to meet kids’ needs with diapers, wipes, formula, and baby food.”
Each week, shoppers visit Meijer before Grabill Food Bank opens and bring in fresh items that families can pick up during the week. Miller shares that a lot of families are especially excited to be able to meet their special dietary needs with gluten-free items, dairy-free or alternative dairy products, and other specialty products that make an impact on their health. These items are often more expensive for individuals to buy on their own, and Meijer Simply Give gift cards make a difference.
“We are also able to expand our shopping efforts to concentrate a bit more on holiday meals, like Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas,” said Miller. “We are able and blessed with the generosity of Meijer Simply Give to expand those holiday meals to families.”
She shared that Meijer has been a tremendous support over the years. Between the three stores Grabill Food Bank regularly works with - Lima Road, Illinois Road, and Maysville Road - the program continues to grow over the years. This results in more than tens of thousands of dollars donated to Grabill every year, which directly goes to support its surrounding communities.
Anyone in the Fort Wayne area shopping at Lima Road, Illinois Road, and Maysville Road stores can support Grabill Food Bank by adding a $10 Simply Give donation card to their cart. The donation is converted into a Meijer food-only gift card and donated directly to Grabill Food Bank. For more information on Grabill Food Bank, visit https://www.facebook.com/GrabillFoodBankInc.