Creamy and crunchy - Parma Peanut Butter Drive benefits All Faiths Pantry

PARMA, Ohio — The 15th annual Parma Peanut Butter Drive has returned for the entire month of December.

All Faiths Pantry is currently collecting jars of peanut butter and monetary donations.

The creamy-and-crunchy food drive was the inspiration of then-Parma City Council President Sean Brennan.

“About 15 years ago, I read an article about rising peanut butter prices,” said State Rep. Brennan, who serves all of Parma and Parma Heights, as well as parts of Old Brooklyn, Brooklyn Centre and Clark Fulton. “At the time, it struck a deeply personal chord. I grew up the son of a single mother after my father abandoned our family.

“As a kid, I never questioned why I ate so much peanut butter. I just thought I liked it. That article made me realize, decades later, that peanut butter was our main source of protein because it was what my mom could afford during some very lean years. That realization stayed with me.”

He soon pitched All Faiths Pantry about creating a peanut butter food drive.

This year’s drop-off locations include The Current Year (5580 Ridge Road), Dollar Bank (5219 Pearl Road), Handel’s Ice Cream (103 E. Royalton Road), Love Coffee (5842 Ridge Road), Parma South Presbyterian Church (6155 Pearl Road), Parma Area Chamber of Commerce (5790 Ridge Road), Parma City Council offices (6611 Ridge Road), UH Parma Medical Center (7007 Powers Blvd.) and West Side Elder Law (18820 Bagley Road, #135).

Also accepting donations are Cuyahoga County Public Library branches at 6996 Powers Blvd., 2121 Snow Road and 6206 Pearl Road.

“This drive is personal,” he said. “It’s a way of honoring my mom and those tough years, and it’s a way of making sure other families don’t feel the kind of scarcity we felt.

“Each year when the drive kicks off, I’m reminded of how powerful a small idea can be when a community embraces it. I’m hopeful this year’s drive will be our strongest yet, because the need is real.”

All Faiths Pantry serves the 100-square-mile area of Parma, Parma Heights, Old Brooklyn, Brooklyn, Brooklyn Heights, Independence, Seven Hills, Brook Park, Middleburg Heights, Berea, North Royalton and Broadview Heights.

The Old Brooklyn nonprofit provides monthly free groceries to more than 450 homes of low-income senior citizens and those with limited mobility.

“We’re not this big nonprofit with a lot of overhead,” All Faiths Pantry Executive Director Felicia Martinez previously told cleveland.com.