MISSION 3:18 IMPACT STORY
Mission 3:18 connects professional baseball players with opportunities to serve communities across the country. Working alongside MLB teams and chaplains, Big League Impact partners with nonprofit organizations that help neighbors meet immediate needs and build lasting stability.
One of those partners is the Greater Cleveland Food Bank, which provides food for hundreds of thousands of neighbors each year through a network of more than 1,000 program partners in Northeast Ohio. The food bank shared the following story about Dianna, a longtime chef whose love of feeding others continues even as she needs support herself.
For Dianna, a bag of fresh produce holds plenty of possibilities: homemade salsa, ingredients to preserve for later, or something to share with the people who deliver her groceries.
At 69, Dianna brings 45 years of experience as a chef to her kitchen. Growing up in the South, she learned to can produce out of necessity. Today, she still takes pride in making the most of every ingredient and letting nothing go to waste.
But living with a disability on a fixed income makes keeping her kitchen stocked difficult. Her Social Security income of less than $2,000 a month barely covers rent and utilities, and her monthly food assistance amounts to $115. Cuts to the food and over-the-counter medication allowances provided through her insurance have stretched that budget further.
The Matthew 25 Outreach Center, a Greater Cleveland Food Bank program partner, helps fill the gap. Without that support, Dianna says she wouldn’t be able to make ends meet.
The groceries also give her a way to keep doing something she loves. She turns the food she receives into meals, preserves and baked goods, often making treats to thank the staff who deliver her food. A loaf of banana bread becomes her own way of caring for the people who care for her.
Over time, those deliveries have brought friendship, too. Dianna has come to know people like Jeff Wright of Matthew 25, and she deeply appreciates the staff and volunteers who help keep her and her neighbors fed.
Her mother’s invitation — “if you hungry, come eat with me” — still guides the way she treats others. Dianna understands that people facing food insecurity may have spent decades working and caring for those around them, only to find themselves needing help.
Through the Greater Cleveland Food Bank and partners like Matthew 25, that help reaches neighbors like Dianna — providing dependable food, personal connection and room to keep sharing what they have.
Learn more about the Greater Cleveland Food Bank and how to support its work through donating or volunteering.
Impact story provided by Greater Cleveland Food Bank; adapted for length and clarity.
New York Yankees at Greater Cleveland Food Bank
New York Yankees at Greater Cleveland Food Bank
Chicago Cubs at Greater Cleveland Food Bank