Welcome to Oberlin Community Services

OFFERING CARING SUPPORT SINCE 1955

Times are tough. So many families are struggling to make ends meet, especially in rural southern Lorain County. Our mission is to empower area residents through emergency assistance, food programs, and other services while promoting systemic change.

Since 1955, Oberlin Community Services has been working to create a sustainable and thriving environment where everyone flourishes.

Today, about 350 to 400 families get food each week from the OCS choice pantry and other food programs — that’s roughly 7,000 people who might otherwise not have enough food on the table.

In September 2023, we moved from a very crowded 5,600-square-foot facility to our new 27,000-square-foot Cooper Community Resource Center at 500 E. Lorain St., Oberlin. Now we have a dedicated space for our indoor choice pantry, ample parking, loading docks, large cooler and freezer units, a pavilion, more outdoor space for our People’s Garden, a community room, a large kitchen, and lots of offices. In fact, we have enough space to share with others! The Cooper Center is becoming a “one-stop shop” for meeting people’s basic needs, putting more social safety net services within reach of southern Lorain County residents.

In FY24…

2,369 unique families got food from OCS through our choice pantry, curbside service, delivery boxes, produce pop-ups, and other programs!
Some households have just one member, but many include spouses, children, grandparents, grandchildren... there are a lot of different household situations. All told, food went from OCS to 6,962 unique people across the families we serve.
People can access the OCS food pantry once per week. In total, families got food from us 17,141 times — the average family came 7.2 times during the year.
Of those who get food from OCS:
• 32 percent are children
• 50 percent are working-age adults
• 18 percent are seniors (ages 60+)
While we are focused on meeting needs of people in southern Lorain County, our pantry doors are open to all Lorain County residents with income up to 200 percent of the federal poverty guidelines.
OCS provides help to families struggling to cover the cost of rent, utility bills, or prescription drug costs. Our social worker talks through these issues and, depending on eligibility, may be able to help. Residents cannot receive emergency assistance every month, but typically about once a year.
This past fiscal year, OCS was able to extend $182,510 in emergency relief to 852 families. Of that amount, $79,004 went to utility relief while $101,591 went to housing relief. Our priority is preventing evictions.
We have a small staff, and volunteers make a HUGE difference in our ability to help local families. Last fiscal year, 483 volunteers contributed 3,548 hours of their time to OCS. Thank you!