School Spotlight: Food pantry opens to help families at Falk Elementary - Madison.com

School Spotlight: Food pantry opens to help families at Falk Elementary - Madison.com

A food pantry that also stocks toiletries and used clothing opened this fall at Falk Elementary School on Madison's Southwest Side.

The Falk Family Resource Center and Food Pantry also gives families computer access and assistance for job and housing searches. It helps families who are applying for public benefits and connect with community resources. This week it will begin handing out bags with weekend meal supplies. 

“It’s just about making sure the word is out,” said Falk parent Nataki Brown-Williams. “There’s just about everything here.”

Brown-Williams, who is active in the Greentree Neighborhood Association that helps support the pantry, is a member of the resource center’s advisory board and appreciates the accessibility of the new pantry.

Holly Larson, a Falk parent who has four children and lives three blocks away, said she appreciates the Falk location because her daughter attends school there and it requires less planning because she knows she won’t have to stand in line. She noted she cannot use FoodShare Wisconsin benefits on toiletries.

“We have a family of six, so we go through a lot of paper products,” she said.

The pantry is designed for Falk families but documentation is not required. Families are asked to complete a brief needs assessment so the school can help them access other help if necessary. It is open from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesdays and noon to 3 p.m. Thursdays.

+1 

The food pantry at Falk Elementary School also includes paper products and toiletries. Photo Sept. 29, 2016. (Photo © Andy Manis)

ANDY MANIS, FOR THE STATE JOURNAL

“The majority of Falk families are within walking distance,” said Sarah Hall, school social worker. “So we know those families can get to the food pantry. …This is structured more like a community food pantry.”

The pantry aligns with the Madison School District’s focus on family engagement this year.

In the past, Falk had a limited program that sent food home with families on the weekend. In addition, Hall said she would keep some food on hand in her office in case families had an emergency need but, it was difficult to be sure all families had access to it. Hall said she had not met more than half of the families who have used the new food pantry in its first month.

Hall had already written a grant last year to get funding for a food pantry through the school district’s Transition Education Program. But before that was processed, the Balance and Believe Foundation/The First Tee of South Central Wisconsin donated money to get the food pantry started. So Hall used the district grant for the weekend meal program.

The pantry has a number of additional partners and funding sources including Second Harvest Foodbank, Community Action Coalition and Orchard Ridge United Church of Christ. Peter Miller, an educational leadership and policy analysis professor at UW-Madison, is providing funds connected to his research project that looks at how organizations work together to support children.