Hardin County Achievement Unlocked

The Mobile Express has been on the road for about three years (over 66,000 miles if you're curious). In that time we've attended hundreds of events and completed thousands of applications. These are all good things.

But counting miles, clients, events, and applications is only part of the story. We also like to count space. We're an Ohio organization so we want to make sure all parts of Ohio are covered. In other words, we want to make sure we attend an event in every county. We're almost there.

We got a little closer on Wednesday, April 25.

For the first time, the Ohio Benefit Bank Mobile Express set up shop in Hardin County. Specifically, we were in their county seat, Kenton, at a soup kitchen at the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church. The kitchen is open in the last week of every month (smart; that's when the SNAP Benefits start to run dry) and also offered a free consignment shop for its patrons.

Erin and I started off a little slowly. A sad truth about events and distributions is that they often involve a lot of waiting around. There is no way around it. We can take advantage of that by using the dead time to talk to people about benefits. It's a lot easier to convince someone to apply for Medicaid if they're just going to be standing around. This event had no lines. Which is awesome! That is obviously a net positive. But it does make telling people about our services a little bit more difficult.

Thankfully, Erin and I did a good enough job with our 20-second elevator speeches when people arrived at the front door. After their meal, the kitchen's patrons came back. Erin and I completed half a dozen applications, most of them for food assistance. And, in what is becoming a pet project of mine, I helped an ex-felon register to vote.

A huge thanks must to go to Dorothy Hogue, the person who runs the soup kitchen and who allowed us to take their best parking space with little notice in order to be closer to her clients. That sort of support is instrumental in helping us reach out to low and moderate income Ohioans, and we truly appreciated her hard work in getting the people ok Kenton a hot meal and a submitted application in one fell swoop.

Now, only a few more counties to go until we've hit all 88 in the state! Butler, Darke, Auglaize, Wyandot, Delaware, Belmont, and Hocking: We'll be seeing you soon.