School closings bring scramble to feed students
Pottstown schools will begin food distribution next week
POTTSTOWN » Sometimes a health crisis can spur a hunger crisis as well.
We’ve all seen the photos. As restrictions related to the coronavirus pandemic expand, people are rushing to markets, buying toilet paper, disinfectant and canned food.
But what if you can’t afford to buy food regularly, much less stock up on extra?
In communities with a larger low-income population, many children get their food at school. And with all schools closed in Pennsylvania by Gov. Tom Wolf’s order Friday, there is a very real possibility some of those children will go hung r y.
Pottstown is one of those communities, where the median income is so low that for several years the U.S. Department of Agriculture has authorized the district to provide breakfast and lunch to students free of charge.
“Food scarcity is a very real problem for kids,” Pottstown High School Principal Danielle McCoy posted on her Facebook page. “Some children eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner at school and depend on Operation 143 for backpacks of food
to get through the weekend.”
Principal Effort
So with all Pottstown schools closed, McCoy and a number of others are stepping into the breach.
She posted a list of nonperishable food donations she is accepting and will distribute to students as best she can.
Her list includes:
• Cereal
• Pop top canned ravioli, spaghetti-o
• Peanut butter
• Jelly
• Bread
• Snack pak puddings
• Granola bars
• Oranges
• Apples
• Crackers
• Cookies
Those wishing to make a food or monetary donation should contact her through her personal email: DanielleRMcCoy@gmail.com
Later Friday she noted that she will be accepting donations Sunday at 2 p.m. in the parking lot behind the district administration building at 230 Beech St.
“I’ve had some former students who live out of the area send me some money for this. They know how important it was to get food at school,” said McCoy.
To help with that effort, McCoy also created an Amazon list, so people who live out of the area, can purchase food items for distribution to Pottstown students. You can find the link on her Facebook page.
A similar effort is underway at Pottstown Middle School, where Beth McManus Burkhimer, dean of students, is also helping to gather food for her students.
“Food scarcity is very real and affects many of the kids I teach on good days. They are now faced with two weeks of no school meals,” she posted Friday on her Facebook page. “I am gathering food to create care packages to deliver to homes of the most in need. My goal is 20 bags to deliver on Monday.”
Just a few hours later, she posted “I have 120 cans of ravioli, 10 Pb, 15 cereal, 10 jelly, 11 cookies and plenty of oranges. I will distribute everything given.”
But as it turns out, students may not have to go as long as some initially thought.
Initially, Pottstown Schools Superintendent Stephen Rodriguez posted a message Friday to residents telling them that the schools were not allowed to distribute food to students.
However, by Friday evening circumstances changed and he streamed live video on the school district’s Facebook page to outline the plan for distributing food.
The district will distribute five days worth of food at a time once each week, and will do so at each of Pottstown’s four elementary schools.
“We want to avoid bringing big groups together,” he explained.
“Meals will be provided on the honor system, so if you tell us you have two kids at home, we’re going to believe you, and if you lie, it means we will run out of food,” Rodriguez said.
“But I have full confidence in the Pottstown community, because when the going gets tough, the Pottstown community pulls together,” he said.
As of Friday evening, the plan was to begin distributions on Tuesday, March 17, or Wednesday, March 18 at the elementary schools.
Until then, students will still need food.
Cluster is Ready
One of the places to receive that food was the food pantry at Pottstown Cluster of Religious Communities.
Executive Director Barbara Wihelmy said the cluster received donations of perishable food that otherwise would have been thrown away from both Pottstown and Pottsgrove school district kitchens.
She said both the food distribution pantry and grocery store at 57 N. Franklin St. and the community meals the cluster provides at area churches will continue as normal, with a few adjustments.
“Some of the churches decided to provide bag lunches instead of hot meals as a safety measure,” she said.
As a result, the lunches Monday at Christ Episcopal Church, 316 E. High St.; and Wednesday at the Salvation Army, 137 King St., will be bag lunches.
Friday’s lunch at Emmanuel Lutheran Church, 150 N. Hanover St., will continue to be a hot meal.
A Sunday lunch is also provided at Pottstown Bible Church, 431 E. High St.
All lunches are served from 11:45 a.m. to 1:15 p.m.
There is also one change to the Cluster’s dinners, which are served from 5 to 6:30 p.m.
“Trinity United Church of Christ has decided to close for the next two weeks,” meaning the dinners normally served there on Tuesdays will not be held.
However, Wihelmy noted, Emmanuel Lutheran hosts a dinner sponsored by a group called Chosen 300 on Tuesdays, so there will still be food available there.
The rest of the schedule has not been changed as of Friday afternoon. It is:
• Mondays: Chesmont Church of Christ, 699 N. Pleasant Road;
• Tuesdays: Emmanuel Lutheran Church, 50 N Hanover St.;
• Wednesdays: First United Methodist Church, 414 E High St.;
• Thursdays: First Presbyterian Church, 750 N Evans St.;
• Saturdays: Emmanuel Lutheran Church, 150 N Hanover St.
According to the Cluster website, the group provided 14,988 plates of food in 2018.
Its food pantry also posted some impressive numbers. In 2018, it provided 416,627 pounds of food to hungry families.
Wihelmy said the group had anticipated that the health crisis might bring about a food crisis and upped its food order accordingly.
“We put in two extra orders, and added in a lot more kid-friendly food and more breakfast items,” she said.
“But we are at the mercy of the delivery system, so one truck came today, but
the other one will not get here until next week,” Wihelmy said.
“Right now, things are calm, but I think people might start to see some shortages by the middle of next week and for the next three weeks after that, so we’ll be keeping an eye on that,” she said.
They are also keeping an eye on health precautions so “we’re trying to be as cautious as we can for the sake of those we serve and our employees and volunteers,” Wihelmy said.
As a result “we’re asking that people not bring any food donations from home, because any of those could be carrying the virus without those folks knowing and we don’t want to spread anything,” Wihelmy explained.
“With our collective buying power, we get food for 10 cents on the dollar from places we can confirm are safe and where we know the food is well-handled,” Wihelmy said
Backpacks Full of Food
As it turns out, it was a good thing that Pottstown Schools had already scheduled Friday as a non-classroom day. The Pottstown students who take food for the weekend home through the efforts of Operation 143 got their weekend food on Thursday.
The same could not be said for students in the Norristown School District.
The operation, formerly known as Operation Backpack, has grown and now serves seven school districts, 48 school buildings and 455 students, said Lisa Heverly, who helped found the free service.
So because Norristown students might have had no food over the weekend, “we called all 143 students and asked them if they still wanted the food. Then we had three teachers who organized each school building to make sure any of the kids who usually get food and still wanted it, would,” Heverly said.
And that may be how the food gets delivered going forward.
“We kind of used today as a test, to see how it worked and it actually worked pretty well,” Heverly said Friday. “Everything is changing dayto-day, so we’ll see how we need to adapt, but we have two weeks supply of food and a slew of volunteers,” she said.
Like the Cluster, Heverly said Operation 143 which, according to Mr. Rodgers, is the “international number for ‘I love you,’” is discouraging food donations from homes, as a precaution.
“We’re also all wearing gloves and we’re not letting anyone who has a cold or any other symptoms to come in or get anywhere near the food,” she said.
Heverly urged those who want to help to keep an eye on the nonprofit organization’s Facebook page to find out specific needs.
“You know, I’m really sorry all of this is happening,” McCoy said of the coronavirus health crisis. “But I have to say, I really like how we all come together in a crisis.”