The Whitefield Elementary School food pantry is stocked with goods for families in need. School nurse Kendra Anderson and social worker Tiffany Bieveuil restarted the food pantry earlier this month. (Photo courtesy Kendra Anderson)
As many families across the nation faced food insecurity earlier this month, two Whitefield Elementary School staff members helped to ease the burden on students and their families.
When the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced last month that Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, benefits would not be distributed in November due to the federal government shutdown, social worker Tiffany Bieuveuil and school nurse Kendra Anderson made the decision to restart the school’s food pantry in early November.
“We had to spring into action,” Bieuveuil said.
The school has had a food pantry on and off in years past, Anderson said. As of late, she had maintained a small pantry for students in need of a snack during the school day.
Recently the pair “started to see an uptick” of kids using the snack pantry, Bieuvuil said. With more students coming to school hungry, uncertainty around SNAP benefits, and local food pantries “inundated” with demand, she said it seemed like the right time to bring back a 2pmfull force pantry.
“(The federal government shutdown) kind of jolted us to think about how we could be innovative and help these families,” Bieuveuil said.
To stock the pantry, Anderson said Whitefield Elementary held a food drive from Nov. 4 to Nov. 14. She said local residents responded with force to the pantry effort, bringing bags full of goods to the school.
“At one point our lobby was overwhelmed with food,” Anderson said.
To get the donations to people in need, Anderson reached out to families who had previously used the pantry and asked if they were in need of food assistance. Last week 13 families received bags filled with shelf-stable items like peanut butter and pasta.
The federal government shutdown ended on Wednesday, Nov. 12 and SNAP benefit payments resumed for most families soon after, but Anderson said the Whitefield Elementary pantry will hopefully continue on.
It’s unclear if the pantry will have enough stock to continue providing food to all 13 households, but Anderson said she and Bieuveuil are working to keep the pantry going. On top of proceeds from a dance at the school last week, Bieuveuil said there will be a bake sale during parent-teacher conferences to raise more funds for the pantry.
“As long as we have the supply, I think we will continue (the pantry) for as long as we can,” Anderson said.
For those who want to contribute, Anderson said people are welcome to drop off food or monetary donations at the school. Foods that students can easily make for themselves make for particularly great food donations, she said.
Though the federal government shutdown represented a challenging time for many families, Anderson said seeing neighbors helping neighbors was a silver lining.
“Seeing the community step up is always so amazing to me,” she said. “There are still really generous, good people that want to help others.”
Whitefield Elementary School is located at 164 Grand Army Road in Whitefield. For more information about the school’s pantry, call 549-7691.
