Pittsburgh-area school district helps students in need with food pantries
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- There is just one week left until Thanksgiving, and the 42nd annual KDKA-TV Turkey Fund is in the final push to help our neighbors in need have a warm Thanksgiving meal.
Over the past two months, we've shown you very real examples of food insecurity in our area and ways people are helping others to overcome it. Take, for example, the Trinity Area School District in Washington.
Students and teachers there are helping to lead the way in making sure their students and their community never go without food and other basic necessities.
The district's middle school and high school both have food pantries inside them, which are designed to serve students and their families. The idea began back in 2017 after a holiday food drive at the middle school.
"We had a surplus of food and we thought, 'Well we definitely have families in our district who could use a little extra help,'" said Trinity Middle School teacher Francesca Cortese.
So they decided to start a food pantry.
It began slowly, but today it's stocked with everything from food to personal hygiene items. They even have a separate room just for clothing.
Students and their families who are in need can request items weekly.
"Every six days, we have a group of students meet and help us here in the pantry," said Trinity Middle School teacher Marissa Brister.
"We'll come in and usually the teachers will have the things we're packing in the bags all laid out. And we just grab two bags, double bag, and just go through and grab one of each, two of each. We tie it up, and then we'll have another teacher in the hallway that will give us a room number and we just go and drop it off at the door," added Trinity Middle School student Katelyn Voytek.
It's all anonymous. The students packing the bags never know who's receiving them to ensure privacy and avoid any embarrassment those students might have.
And the food pantry at the middle school has been so successful that once students returned from the pandemic, the high school decided to start one as well. It works similarly to the middle school one, with students and families in need requesting items.
"They can request to have it every day, every week, a couple of times a month. Whenever they need it," said Trinity Area High School teacher Amy Frazee.
The items are then bagged and delivered, discretely, by members of the student council who've really taken an active role in making this what it is.
"Just the thought of people not being able to have a complete meal has always tugged on my heart," said Trinity Area High School student Addison Paul.
At the high school, they also have a monthly pick-up where anyone can drive up and have their requested items placed directly into their cars.
They also plan to buy a refrigerator and freezer to add to the high school pantry within the next month or so, in order to also offer meat, produce and dairy items.
"There is a huge need out there, and it's not something to be embarrassed about. There is help. We definitely can provide to our Trinity families, not just at the high school but the families in the community. We just need to know," said Trinity Area High School teacher Erin Thornburg.
For both students and teachers at Trinity, these food pantries have become not only valuable sources of help but also valuable sources of learning.
"It's just really wonderful to be able to knock down any barriers that students have, whether it be food, clothing, hygiene items -- any of those barriers to education is what we want to get past for our students," said Brister.
Frazee added, "When you find out they're working 40 hours in addition to going to school full time just to try to support their family or when they leave here, they go home and they don't have anything -- so any little thing that I can do to help, it just makes me feel like this is why I'm here."
"I love reaching them in class and seeing the light turn on, but this is just another part of it that makes you feel like 'wow I'm really helping somebody.' Not just learning math, just helping them through life and maybe making a tough day a little better," said Thornburg.
"The students care. It warms my heart. Every time I walk into this room, I just get that feeling that we've done something to help," added Cortese.
Voytek said, "I mean, it's a little thing. It doesn't take much time."
Paul added, "The more that we can do for other people, the better the world will be for us when we're adults. I just think it's bettering Washington, it's bettering the community."
Trinity is one of only a few school districts in the area that currently have food pantries. But teachers there have spoken to other districts about how to get food pantries started in more of our local schools.
And just like the students in the Trinity Area School District help their own, now is your chance to help us make sure our neighbors in need have food on Thanksgiving by donating to the KDKA-TV Turkey Fund. Please donate here.
And, as always, we thank you for helping us with this important mission for our community.
