AMHERST – Jennifer Hines gushes with pride at the success of the Viking Pantry and how it’s making a difference for hungry students.
“Business has been very brisk. We’ve had a lot of visitors since we first started last fall,” resource teacher Jennifer Hines said. “There are new faces every week.”
Hines began the pantry at the high school last November after seeing a story about a food bank that was set up last year at J.L. Ilsley High School in Halifax. She figured if it could work there, it could work here.
“The thing that’s most impressive is that word of the pantry passed by word of mouth,” she said. “There is no signage and there was no announcements in the classroom. The students heard about it and started coming. It’s been student to student or teacher to student.”
While she hasn’t measured how much food had gone from the pantry, she said it doesn’t take long for the shelves to empty.
Along with curbing hunger, the pantry also helps with education and research has shown that students with full bellies tend to do much better in the classroom than those who go to school hungry.
“Having something to eat means students have one less thing on their plate to worry about,” she said.
The pantry has also been supported by countless donations of food as well as money that’s used to purchase food to stock the shelves. Along with food donations from students and staff, there has also been tremendous support for the community.
“Every day I come in there’s a little bundle of items for the pantry, either from a student or staff member who saw something on sale and picked up a few items, or a bag of goods that someone in the community has dropped off,” Hines said.
The program has been so successful that other schools in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick have contacted Hines asking her how the pantry got started and how it’s operated. She said a similar pantry has been established at Springhill Junior-Senior High School, while Hants East Rural High School is developing a pantry for its students.
The success of the Amherst program has resulted in a $3,900 Building Vibrant Communities grant from the provincial Communities, Culture and Heritage Department. The pantry, in partnership with Empowering Beyond Barriers, applied for the grant to support the operation and development of the pantry.
“This money will help us expand the program, create a student-led cooking program and provide students with food products to aid in building their food security and engagement in learning,” Hines said.
Hines said she will working through the rest of the school year and into the summer to put some resources in place for students. The group will be targeting students who might need support because they’re on their own, or moving between homes.
“We’ll buying some cooking pots and cooking tools and putting together a little cookbook of basic recipes to aid with nutrition focusing on the supplies you would find at a foodbank,” Hines said. “Basically, it’s how students can get the most bang for their buck.”
Also, by purchasing some basic supplies for the pantry students will be able to prepare meals there during the allotted lunch hour at the high school.
Twitter: @ADNdarrell
