Pantry intended to help Ontario students and their families with groceries - Ontario Argus Observer

Pantry intended to help Ontario students and their families with groceries - Ontario Argus Observer

ONTARIO — Several families stepped through the doorway of the Ontario School District food pantry Thursday. It was the pantry’s first day of operations this year.

The pantry is open once per week, from 3 to 5 p.m. Thursdays. Only families with a student in the Ontario School District are eligible to receive food, said manager Tobi Boyd, a retired Ontario school teacher.

Boyd runs the pantry with several other volunteers, and has done so since November 2015.

“I worked as a teacher at the alternative school at Ontario High School,” Boyd said. “When I was there, I saw a need with homeless students.”

The nonprofit organization Community in Action assisted Boyd with her initial efforts, helping about 20 students get the resources they needed.

“I thought that surely there must be more students in the district [that needed help],” Boyd said. “Before, I was just zoned into teaching. This is now a social service provided to the students and their families.”

Community in Action helped in that regard, providing contacts with the Oregon Food Bank and helping set up a $6,300 grant budget through the food bank organization, said Peter Lawson, branch services manager for the food bank’s Southeast Oregon services.

“Oregon Food Bank does not actually supply the funds themselves,” Lawson wrote in an email to the Argus. “Food purchased by the pantry with the grant is supplemented with fresh produce, food drive product, and other resources from Oregon Food Bank-Southeast Oregon Services.”

Before the pantry opens, Boyd sends out flyers to the different schools across Ontario. To help further spread the message, he also sends flyers to entities such as the Oregon Department of Human Services, and the Malheur County Health Department’s Women, Infants and Children.

Operating out of the Cub Gym at Ontario Middle School, the food pantry provides food for families throughout the school year, up until the end of May, Boyd said.

In the 2015-16 school year, the pantry helped 101 different families, 297 visits total, Boyd said.

The pantry allows up to 18 visits per family throughout the year, and of the families that sought food, 49 families came only one time.

The amount of food offered is contingent upon family size, up to a maximum of seven. Food products include fresh and frozen vegetables and fruit, tomato products, protein, eggs and grains.

Both students and the school district provide help to the pantry.

Ontario School District provides the space and electricity at the middle school for the pantry, Boyd said. And Ontario High School students, coordinated through the efforts of Malheur Education Service District transition specialist Debbie Durham, help stock food at the pantry every Tuesday.