ANDERSON COUNTY, Tenn. (WATE) — As the school year approaches, Second Harvest Food Bank of East Tennessee is doing what it can to help feed students and their families. The School Pantry Program based at many schools through Second Harvest ensures that no student goes hungry by distributing boxes or bags of food filled with staple items.
These designated school pantries are a joint effort between Second Harvest and local schools.
“Most people would understand it’s difficult to learn, it’s difficult to focus on an empty stomach and that’s very, very true,” said Greg Larose, the Senior Manager of Programs at Second Harvest. “The return to school is the return to access of that program and the family can have regularly-scheduled relief thanks to the school year just running the way it does.”
At Norwood Elementary in Anderson County, Second Harvest delivers food directly to the school. Staff then packs the bags and sends them home with students before weekends and breaks.
“A student who’s fed is a student who can focus on their learning. It means that our students aren’t dreading all Friday being hungry over the weekend. It means that kids sometimes get them and are so excited like ‘oh, I got mac and cheese this week’. So, they just are appreciative and they value it. Our families value it,” said Elizabeth Evans, a school counselor at Norwood who helps run the program.
Norwood students also get involved, using the pantry as a learning opportunity.
“We get to work with the students and talk to them about the food pyramid. So we make sure there’s proteins, there’s dairy, there’s a fruit and a vegetable and there’s grains. And so, when we’re making the bags in our groups, they are able to kind of sort. And then we kind of create an assembly line. We are a STEM-designated school. So, we turn everything into career readiness and so we use this program to help them learn about mass production and distribution of items,” added Evans.
For many families, it’s more than food. It’s relief and support.
“At the end of the day, we’re a team and we want to work with families as a team because students are best served when families and schools work together,” explained Evans.
In past years, more than 100 students annually have received food bags through the program. Both Norwood and Second Harvest are prepared to serve more students as the school year begins. Second Harvest shares that programs like this are only possible through community support and donations.
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