COLUMBUS (WCMH) — The warehouse at the Mid-Ohio Foodbank is about 176,000 feet, and it’s where everything gets stored from beef stew to low fat milk. The Food Bank provides about 155,000 meals a day, and is asking for food and monetary donations to help meets the need of the community.

Mely Hernandez is a single mother of two who’s been coming to the food pantry for four years.

“Mid-Ohio Foodbank really helps a lot of the community,” she says. “I do a lot of, like, the vegetables and fruits, and they have frozen stuff, but it’s really coming out with a whole cart of food. Really makes you feel happy, because sometimes you don’t have a lot of ways of bringing food to your table and they really help you with that.”

Hernandez is just one of half a million people the Mid-Ohio Foodbank helps every year. Families in need can come once a week to get fruits and vegetables, and they can come once a month to get a cart full of other groceries.

A food bank spokesperson tells NBC4’s Elyse Chengery that hunger is a year-round issue – and that one in four children in Ohio doesn’t know where their next meal is coming from.

“It helps make ends meet,” says Brenda Mann. “If it wasn’t for this, I really don’t know what we would do because we don’t get that much money. This is a blessing.”

Frank Ferguson tells us he provides for a family of six, his wife had a stroke and times have been rough.

“Sometime when you think you’re doing well, then several bills hit ya at one time, you don’t have the money to buy certain things. You either need to choose to not buy groceries or pay your bills and sometimes you fall behind. I’m very appreciative of it to help with groceries in the house,” he says.

“For every dollar donated they can purchase ten dollars’ worth of groceries,” says Mid-Ohio Foodbank Communications Manager Jill Jess.

The food pantry is open four days a week. The Mid-Ohio Foodbank and partner agencies help serve 525,000 people a year. Click here to visit the Mid-Ohio Foodbank site.