Businesses, churches, schools stepping in to feed children during closures
Businesses, churches, schools stepping in to feed children during closures
POTTSTOWN » Zahmere Trott “grew up in public housing and there were not too many people feeding us.”
Trott said he knew as soon as Gov. Wolf announced the closure of public schools March 12 to stem the spread of coronavirus, that some Pottstown kids would go hungry.
“I know a lot of them really depend on those meals in school and a lot of their families can’t afford to suddenly start providing that extra meal,” said Trott.
Now the owner of Uptown Flavors, a soul food restaurant that opened on South Keim Street nine months ago, Trott joined other businesses that provided free lunches to students for as long as they can afford to.
Kids Uptown served got chicken breast, rice and string beans.
In just two days, Uptown Flavors provided free lunches for 216 children, not counting the ones he served Wednesday. He got some help from the folks at Donut NV, which donated 75 bags of food to the effort.
“We actually were talking about it when we saw that Rocky was doing the same thing over at Little Italy and we said, ‘let’s do that too,’” Trott said.
Some donations helped, but right now, Trott said, he is looking for partners to get the effort up and running again.
There are many potential partners out there and he is not alone in his efforts.
Bill Mabery, owner of Flavors Deli in the Pottstown Terminal Market at High and South Charlotte streets, started his business as a sideline.
His main business was providing food for the freeand-reduced lunch program for two charter schools, one in Reading and the other in Philadelphia. but when one closed, the deli became his primary business focus.
And when Gov. Tom Wolf ordered all schools closed, Mabery knew what that meant for hungry school children.
That’s the same federal program that provides free breakfast and lunch to all Pottstown School District students as well.
“So I called up the pastor and I said ‘let’s feed the kids.’”
“The pastor,” in this case is the Rev. Justin Valentine, whose Kingdom
Life Church at Walnut and Franklin streets has begun offering hot meals to children left hungry by the closure of the schools.
Lunch there is served from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. meals are free.
And Maberry, who is using the food he had stored for the future to feed the school children, is not alone in his efforts at Kingdom Life Church.
He gets help from two other restaurants in the Terminal, Mindy Hoagie from Honey’s Home Brew, and Nick Tornetta from Ay Carumba Tacos.
“Mindy and I create a menu every day. We’re doing hot lunches. One day it was spaghetti and on Monday, we’re doing mashed potatoes and gravy, with chicken and corn and they’ll get a piece of fruit and a drink,” Maberry said.
He said others, like Parma Pizza on High Street in Sanatoga, have also taken turns. “Nick donated pizzas and Parma donated pizzas and salad and juice,” Maberry said. “It’s about the kids.”
And other churches are involved too.
In addition to the churches involved with the Pottstown Ministerium supporting the efforts of Pottstown High School Principal Danielle McCoy, highlighted in the March 25 edition of The Mercury, other area churches are lending a hand too.
Bishop Michael Anthony of Heart of God Family Worship Center has been delivering boxes of cereal to children in the Bright Hope public housing complex.
Between 300 and 400 single-serve cartons of milk will be delivered to the children of the Rolling Hills complex Monday, and for the next three weeks, thanks to efforts organized by Jim Frymoyer and the Pottstown Children’s Foundation he founded.
Frymoyer partnered with Chuck Gulatti, owner of Sunnybrook Ballroom, Heart of God Family Worship Center, Branch Life Church and the Pottstown Police and Pottstown Police Officers Association to obtain and deliver the milk.
“Chuck Gulatti secured the milk and is storing it in his coolers until we can get it delivered,” said Josh Park, pastor at Branch Life Church. “Rolling Hills then has a way to get it to the children.”
Anybody who wants to help can with these efforts can contact any of those mentioned above, or contact the Pottstown NAACP at pottstownnaacp.2288@gmail.com to get connected to an effort that needs funding, volunteers or both.
Also, remember that the Pottstown Cluster of Religious Communities is serving as a single point of contact to connect those interested in making donations or volunteering to help with the effort.
The major player in the effort to feed Pottstown school children, in terms of the resources it can bring to bear, is the Pottstown School District itself.
Almost immediately after Wolf announced the closure of schools, the district mobilized to begin organizing ways for feed to get distributed to students, said Superintendent Stephen Rodriguez.
“The district gets funding
Parents pick up a week’s worth of breakfasts and lunches outside Rupert Elementary School Wednesday during the Pottstown School District’s weekly food distribution.
for 100 percent of the students, so we have assumed that 100 percent of the students’ families will be picking up this food,” Rodriguez said Wednesday as he watched the cars line up outside Rupert Elementary School for the weekly distribution.
“We want the highest possible amount to make sure none of our students are going hungry,” he said.
Their efforts have been significant.
On Wednesday, the second week of the district’s efforts, 14,443 meals were served. Over the first two weeks, the district has distributed 26,326 meals, according to Rodriguez.
The district has learned as the crisis drags on. In the first week, staff and volunteers gathered ahead of time to pre-pack five breakfasts and five lunches for distribution but found those packages disappeared within the first hour of distribution.
The subsequent improvisation brought boxes of food to the four elementary schools and had the parents picking up the food take it out of the boxes on their own.
It quickly became evident that this was more efficient, and limited the number of hands touching the food packages, making them less likely to pass on the coronavirus.
The second week adopted this method.
Week three will take place on April 1 at all four elementary schools from 3 to 6 p.m
Tompkins VIST Bank has donated reusable shopping bags for families to use.
Rodriguez said he is proud of the effort the schools and community have made to lend a hand in times of crisis, but admitted there is a surreal feel to the whole situation.
“This is the most stressful thing I’ve seen us deal within 23 years in education,” he said. “Everything is upside down.”
It’s hard, said Rupert Elementary Principal Matthew Moyer, to see the kids in this context. “We’re huggers at Rupert and how do you tell a 5-year-old to keep their distance?”
Barth Elementary Principal Ryan Oxenford had similar sentiments. “I miss seeing them and not knowing how they’re doing is hard,” he said. “In many ways, we’re their parents during the week.”
Rupert parent Amy Hartman agreed but was thankful for the food nonetheless.
With 9- and 11-year-old sons now at home as she works from home, Hartman loaded food into her car and remarked: “it’s amazing, how many people care and how many people are trying to help.”