Saint Leo the Great Catholic Church

Who Can Visit?

The St. Leo Food Pantry serves residents of the North Fairmount area, including English Woods, Roll Hill Apartments, and the Millvale area. Call the Parish Office at 513-921-1044 or visit the website to check whether your street is covered.

How Often You Can Visit?

Households may visit once every 30 days.

Good to Know

The pantry is open on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 1:00–3:30 pm. It currently serves more than 1,500 individuals representing over 370 families, including 540+ children and 140+ seniors each month.

Snow closings are announced on Channels 9 and 19 and on Facebook. If Cincinnati Public Schools announces closing due to hazardous road conditions, the pantry will also close. (The pantry does not close when CPS closes due to extreme cold or COVID surges.)

One visitor described the experience: "They don't look down on you no matter what your ethnic background and I love it."

Food & Essentials

The pantry offers a wide variety of food sourced from the Freestore Foodbank and Cincinnati Whole Foods Market. Items in greatest need — and regularly available — include juices (apple, grape, orange, cranberry, fruit punch), cereal, saltine and other crackers, pasta, rice, canned goods such as Manwich, pancake syrup, jelly, mayonnaise, mustard, ketchup, BBQ sauce, hot sauce, salad dressing (especially Ranch), white flour, sugar, and cooking oil.

Beyond food, the pantry also provides personal hygiene and household products (which food stamps cannot purchase), including shampoo, conditioner, body lotion, body wash, hand pump soap, razors, shave cream, tampons, liquid dish soap, and smaller-size laundry detergent, as well as diapers (sizes 2 and 3), baby wipes, pull-ups (sizes 4 and 5), toilet paper, and paper towels.

How to Pick Up

The St. Leo Food Pantry is a client-choice pantry — shoppers pick their own items with the help of volunteer escorts. A volunteer will guide and assist you through the shopping area, help you navigate what's available based on your family size, and escort you to your car when you're done.

Additional Support

St. Leo provides a place for SNAP (Food Stamps) recipients to complete required community service hours. Clients have helped with newsletter mailings, cleaning tasks, and moving items. The pantry connects SNAP participants who need to work off service hours with meaningful volunteer tasks.

The parish also offers an English as a Second Language program and a Burundi Refugee Ministry and Guatemalan Immigrant Ministry for newcomers to the area.

Ways to Give

The pantry welcomes donations of food and non-food items. Most-needed items include juices, canned soup, cereal, crackers, pasta, and rice, as well as personal hygiene products. You can shop the Amazon wish list at https://www.amazon.com/registries/gl/owner-view/1ZGRUHXUUXSG6 or the Amazon gift list at https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/1Y6S276N39W08.

Make an online donation at https://31257.sites.ecatholic.com/give. You can give a one-time gift or set up a recurring donation (weekly, monthly, quarterly, etc.) by credit card or bank account. You can also direct a gift specifically to the Food Pantry.

To donate by mail or check, make it payable to St. Leo Church and send to:

St. Leo Food Pantry 2573 Saint Leo Place Cincinnati, OH 45225

Kroger shoppers can support the pantry for free by registering their Kroger Plus Card at https://www.kroger.com/communityrewards and entering NPO #KC265 or searching for "St. Leo the Great Church."

To host a food drive or for a tour of the facility, contact Nicole Cummings at 513-921-1044 or nicolec@saint-leo.org.

Organizations interested in sponsoring one month of operating costs ($2,300) will be recognized in the pantry foyer, on the website, on social media, in the monthly Pantry Press, in the quarterly newsletter, and in the weekly Sunday bulletin. Contact Nicole Cummings at 513-921-1044 or nicolec@saint-leo.org.

How to Join the Team?

The pantry depends on volunteers to keep things running every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Roles include:

• Driver/Pick-up — Pick up groceries from Kroger, Whole Foods, Fresh Thyme, and the Freestore Foodbank. Requires driving and heavy lifting.
• Cleaning Crew — Sweep, vacuum, mop floors, and clean refrigeration equipment on Monday or Friday mornings (9:00 am–Noon).
• Check-in Coordinator — Verify guests live within the serving area, direct client flow, and complete end-of-day paperwork (Noon–4:30 pm).
• Intake Station — Verify documentation, enter client info into tracking software, and prepare Shopper Slips (Noon–4:30 pm).
• Shopper Escort — Guide clients through the shopping area, assist with selections, and escort to cars (Noon–4:30 pm).
• Produce Assistant — Help guests navigate what's available and select produce based on family size (Noon–4:30 pm).
• Cart Return — Escort clients to their cars and return carts (Noon–4:30 pm).

Volunteers are especially needed on Mondays and Fridays, 1:00–3:30 pm. To sign up or learn more, contact Nicole Cummings at 513-921-1044 or nicolec@saint-leo.org.