SNOW HILL – A new food pantry at Snow Hill Middle School (SHMS) is expected to help hungry students.
Located at the back door of the building, the pantry – nicknamed “The Nest” – is a new schoolwide initiative to help students in need.
Chris Welch, principal at SHMS, said the idea of the pantry is to offer students access to free snacks and non-perishable meals after school, on the weekends and during the holidays.
“It’s things that get a kid by if they don’t have access to meals,” she said.
While the school offers breakfast, free and reduced lunches, and after-school dinners, Welch said the pantry will help provide students with meals outside of school.
“We have 50 percent poverty and on the weekends we were worried our students were going without meals,” she said.
Welch said school officials found the idea through Twitter and over the summer placed a cabinet outside that could accommodate non-perishable items. For their part, staff at SHMS donated canned goods, packaged ramen noodles, crackers, Nutella and more.
“It’s been a group effort,” Welch said.
Though the pantry is meant to help students, Welch said she wouldn’t be surprised to see other members of the community benefit from “The Nest.”
“We know that an adult might come up and get something, but if they are hungry then that’s what they need,” she said. “It’s not about policing it. It’s about helping the kids in the community.”
Welch said the new pantry has also inspired one faculty member to launch another program that will fill backpacks for those in need.
“We hope it’s an inspiration for something much larger,” she said.
Until then, Welch expressed her enthusiasm for “The Nest” and encouraged students in need to use the pantry when school is closed.
“We are going to continue it as long as we can,” she said. “As long as kids are using the resource we will continue to stock it.”
Welch added that several members of the community have also reached out to the school offering to donate food to the pantry.
“That’s the community we live in,” she said.
