Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
School’s food pantry helped by Christmas Card donors
ROGERS — New Technology High School students and their families are less likely to go hungry now that the school has its own food pantry, an initiative launched in part with money donated through the NWA Community Christmas Card campaign.
It’s one example of how donations to the Christmas Card campaign help meet the basic needs of children in the region. Campaign donors may direct their money to any one of the school districts in Benton and Washington counties and in McDonald County, Mo.
The campaign is sponsored by the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Every penny donated goes to the school districts.
Rusty Turner, the newspaper’s editor, said even a small Christmas Card donation can make a big difference in the lives of children.
“It’s a great cause, and I hope people will make it a part of their holiday giving,” he said.
Donating is easy to do, and those giving at least $2 by noon Dec. 22 will get their names in the newspaper, Turner said.
The Rogers School District last year received $1,590 through the campaign. New Tech counselors applied to the district and received some of that money to buy a $600 refrigerator and some storage bins for New Tech’s Wolfpack Pantry, according to Brenda Walkenbach, a school counselor.
The idea for a pantry sprouted from a conversation Walkenbach had in October with Mike Williams, director of development at the Northwest Arkansas Food Bank. Williams encouraged her to start a pantry at New Tech.
The school put out a short survey to its 700 students. Results showed as many as 40 percent of the students had experienced food insecurity within the last year, Walkenbach said.
Hunger affects the students’ concentration levels, and if they’re not eating well, they are more prone to illnesses that will keep them out of school, she said.
New Tech partnered with its parent-teacher organization to start the pantry so it could qualify as an agency of the food bank. Being a food bank agency allows the school to buy food at a discount from the food bank.
The school got its first delivery of food on Nov. 16. About 17 families have received food through the pantry, Walkenbach said.
The pantry shelves on Friday were stocked with peanut butter, jelly, soup, crackers, bread, potatoes and more. The refrigerator and freezer contained strawberries, Hawaiian rolls, chicken and frozen sandwiches.
Cindy Caudle, another New Tech counselor, said the pantry is convenient for those at the school who might otherwise have trouble getting to another food pantry, either because of their schedule or transportation issues.
“The way out of that cycle of poverty is for them to be in school and get an education, but their basic needs have to be met in order for that to happen,” Caudle said.
Sharon Langston, counseling director and homeless liaison for the Rogers School District, said the district has about 280 students who’ve been identified as homeless, nearly 2 percent of the its total enrollment.
The district uses Christmas Card donations to buy a variety of things for less fortunate kids, including clothing, shoes and hygiene products. In some cases, students have received eyeglasses, medicine and bedding, Langston said.
“The goal would be to provide these things to them so they can focus on school and attendance and learning rather than worrying about where their basic needs are being met. The (Christmas Card) money comes in handy that way,” she said.