Frankfort students find more than food at student-run food pantry

Smith said after a while, it became apparent students were looking to pick up food not just for themselves, but also family members.

“We knew we were reaching elementary students through the pantry,” she said. “Students would ask if they could grab something for their little sister, or (ask) ‘can I get this for my little brother?’ We knew the need was there, but we didn’t know how to reach that.”

Smith said in the past months, they created a “pop-up” food pantry with the help of Tammy Garret, elementary kitchen support.

“She’s seen 30 students consistently,” Smith said. “They know to come to the ‘lunch lady.’ We send them home with snacks, make sure they have breakfast on the weekends. It’s been interesting to see how that is growing and see how we can work with families so we can meet the needs of even our youngest students.”

She also said the elementary pantry allows high school students to focus on their own needs. 

“They know we’re also taking care of their siblings,” Smith said. 

What is available at the pantry varies between the high school and elementary school, according to Smith.

“We do offer meal kits, but what moves off our shelves and is most utilized is grab-and-go meals,” Smith said. “Grab-and-go snacks: protein bars, cheese sticks, quick things like microwaveable meals.”

Smith said these options are great for students who are busy with extracurricular activities but don’t have the money to buy a meal.

The pantry also has a lot of breakfast items, including oatmeal cups and Pop-Tarts.

“The elementary school is a little more catered and structured,” Smith said. “They take home two vegetables, they take home two fruit cups, so it is a little bit of a mix of snacks, breakfast stuff and meal supplements.”

The elementary food pantry also watches carefully for allergens.

The food pantry has also provided students with holiday meals, as well as holiday gifts.

“We got to do things like holiday stockings that were stuffed to the brim, like the kinds of things we’d expect to receive during the holidays,” Smith said. “We had some holiday meals.”

Hollenbeck said she recently helped students put an Easter dinner together, and gift cards to grocery stores are sometimes donated.

Community support

Both Hollenbeck and Smith said the community lends a great deal of support to the pantry.

“We have been overwhelmed in regard to the community’s support,” Smith said. “We have churches and business owners that make consistent donations.”

Hollenbeck said people donate items in bulk, such as individual macaroni and cheese cups or microwaveable sandwiches.

“They just drop them off,” she said. “Some come once a month. Some people come once a month and give me $100 for the pantry. We have an account we can use to purchase food, or if there is a specific need, we can go and purchase things specifically for that family we’re working with if we don’t have it in the pantry.”

The idea for the food pantry came in the winter of 2021, when COVID-19 was still causing schools to cancel activities, and the student council was looking for a way to help.

“The students were looking for something positive to do,” Smith said. “We lost our dances. We wanted to do something with Snowcoming, how can we get excited for something that is good.”

Smith said the idea started as a snack pantry and an awareness of food insecurity not only in the community, but also within the school’s halls.

Members of the National Honor Society and student council at Frankfort High School helped get the idea off the ground, and continue to help by stocking shelves, accepting donations and taking inventory. 

“We did meal kits and the way the community rallied around us was unexpected,” Smith said. “We’ve been really embraced by the community and the students really appreciate it — even the students that don’t utilize it. They have a better understanding of what is going on with their peers.”

While the idea was originally to have meal kits and cooking instructions for students to take home, it became apparent not all students had the ability to cook or had access to working kitchens.

“Students didn’t have access to a full kitchen or maybe they didn’t have everything they needed to prepare a meal,” Smith said. “It was hard to let go of the idea of the meal kits as a health teacher because we wanted them to have balanced and nutritious meals, but we had to meet the students where they were, not where we thought they should be as far as capabilities.”

She said the long-term goal is to have cooking classes where students can learn skills they can use at home if they had the kitchen capability, but the aim of the program was not to add more stress to students’ lives.

Both Hollenbeck and Smith said the pantry doesn’t just provide for the nutritional needs of students, but also emotional needs.

“With food insecurity, it is the ability to have something in their bag and know that if they don’t get seconds at dinner or dinner at all when they get home, they can eat,” Smith said. “No matter what, they have something to eat.”

She also said students who are relying on others for a place to stay may not want to ask for more food.

“A lot of students are nervous with their situation because they don’t want to be a burden,” Smith said. “They don’t want to ask for seconds. They don’t want to eat somebody else’s food. They don’t want to make a mess. This allows them to feel like they’re contributing if they bring a meal kit home.”

She also said students who need the food pantry’s help aren’t all homeless or facing food insecurity, but might be in a situation where their parents are working late or have multiple jobs and may not be able to cook meals every evening.

“They might have a pantry that’s stocked, but if they don’t know how to utilize it, we can give them these things they can make easily,” Smith said.

Smith said having the ability to get food for themselves and family members is empowering for students in need.

“Some of these students have a lot of responsibility,” Hollenbeck said. “A lot of them work. They have to help provide for their siblings.”