T-R PHOTO BY SARA JORDAN-HEINTZ Franklin Elementary School Nurse Carol Barlow (pictured) is one of the staff members available to take people down to the school’s basement food pantry. The pantry offers a variety of perishable and non-perishable food items, provided by the Food Bank of Iowa, private donations and leftover unopened breakfast items from the school’s cafeteria.
Franklin Elementary School Nurse Carol Barlow walks down the halls of the school and heads to the elevator, pressing the “down” button. The door opens and she approaches a small locked room. She unlocks and opens the door to reveal shelves, a refrigerator and separate freezer filled with food for those in need.
“You just come to the school and say ‘I’d like to use your food pantry’ and one of us will walk you down to it,” Barlow said. “You may take whatever you can carry out.”
What makes Franklin’s pantry distinctive is it offers not only non-perishable goods such as canned vegetables, oatmeal and boxed meals, but also meat, milk, eggs and fresh fruit.
“When other schools were getting involved with the fill the students’ backpack program, we decided to go a different route,” said Principal Tim Holmgren. “We were the first school in the district to start its own food pantry.”
Their pantry is serviced by the Food Bank of Iowa, which delivers goods to the school once a quarter. Private donations are also accepted. It formed in November 2014 as a response to addressing the needs of hungry folks in the neighborhood.
Barlow said those interested in using the pantry simply fill out a yearly form, providing their name, address and income, although there is no income requirement to be eligible for services. People also have to do their shopping in person.
“We don’t want parents calling us to tell us to send their kids home with the food — we want them to come in person,” Barlow said. “A reason we opted out of the backpack program is because you don’t always know if the food gets to where it needs to go that way.”
Folks can shop the pantry once a month. Barlow noted that milk and eggs are the first to go. The pantry serves, on average, 30 households a month.
“Most people who use our pantry live in Marshalltown, but it isn’t a requirement,” she said. “It’s mainly people who live in the neighborhood who come. It can be hard to keep up with demand.”
Sometimes unopened breakfast items such as microwavable waffles can be found in the fridge.
“Students who get the subsidized meals are required to take three items, such as toast, a piece of fruit and milk, but instead of throwing away unopened food that didn’t get eaten, we add it to the pantry,” Holmgren said. “Also, when eggs and milk are nearing expiration, we don’t let them sit in the pantry all weekend and go bad, so that stuff gets taken right away to the House of Compassion.”
School Custodian Brian Arends monitors the pantry, ensuring food remains fresh.
The pantry is available during normal school hours: 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. To learn more, contact the school, located at 1315 W. Main Street, at 641-754-1041.
