HILLIARD, Ohio (WCMH) — Hilliard held its annual state of the city address Wednesday night, with city leaders highlighting local nonprofit and service organizations that make a difference in the community.
The event wasn’t a typical “state of the city” address. Instead of talking about the city’s finances or progress that has been made to attract new companies, leaders from several organizations got the chance to talk about the work they’re doing each and every day.
“More than 14,000 people had the food they needed this year; that’s 14,000 lives touched by kindness, by care, and by a community that refuses to let anyone go hungry,” said Erin West, the executive director for Hilliard Food Pantry Plus.
“Patches Of Light is 100% volunteer, and we have helped over 25,000 people at last count,” said Mindy Atwood, the CEO of Patches Of Light.
These are just two of the many organizations that were highlighted at Wednesday night’s address. Hilliard City Manager Michelle Crandall said the success of a community is not just measured in dollars and cents.
“I always say, ‘You can build a city, but you create a community with those who live there,’” Crandall said.
According to Crandall, Hilliard City Council annually allocates funds to support many of these non-profit organizations, like Hilliard Food Pantry Plus and Hilliard Historical Society. In 2025, council dedicated more than $260,000.
“They’re really doing great things for our community and even beyond the bounds of the city of Hilliard,” she said.
It’s no secret that Hilliard is a growing community. There are nearly 1,140 businesses that employ more than 17,000 people. The city is also working on several different projects along the I-270 corridor.
“We have about $3.2 billion worth of construction happening,” Crandall said. “That’s really key for the city for income tax, and income tax, in turn, provides us with funding to provide services to our communities. So that’s really critical.”
Heritage Trail is another large project for the city. Once complete, it will be a 9.2-mile trail from the center of Hilliard to Lower.com Field. Crandall said that while this growth is exciting, the city doesn’t want to necessarily grow fast, but instead to grow thoughtfully.
“Our community plan calls for different areas where we will have additional people living as part of mixed-use development,” Crandall said.
Crandall said she’d like to be in a position five years from now where the city can make the community everything residents want it to be.