The Lowcountry Food Bank has opened a new food pantry at North Charleston's Stall High School to provide staple groceries to students and their families.
The new In-School Pantry is the first of its kind for the food bank and for the South Carolina Lowcountry. Since opening on Oct. 20, the Food Bank reports that the pantry has served 25 families and distributed more than 1,200 pounds of food.
The In-School Pantry was created with funding from the estate of Elizabeth B. O'Connor, a local woman who requested that her estate be used to alleviate hunger.
"We understand that some students struggle with food insecurity, and we really cannot bear the thought of them going home for the weekend and perhaps going to an empty cupboard," Lowcountry Food Bank CEO Pat Walker said at a grand opening ceremony Thursday. "So we wanted to partner with you to make sure that those students you teach every day ... have the nutrition that they need to do that."
The Lowcountry Food Bank serves South Carolina's 10 coastal counties and distributed more than 26 million pounds of food last year. As part of its mission, the food bank addresses childhood hunger and food insecurity through programs including summer meal services and Kids Cafe after-school meals.
The Lowcountry Food Bank works with 48 schools in all 10 counties through the BackPack Buddies initiative, which sends thousands of elementary students home on Fridays with a backpack full of food to share with their families over the weekend. The food bank has also set up 36 pantries at schools, sending students home with pre-packed boxes of food.
The In-School Pantry at Stall is the first to allow students to make their own choices. Rachel Allison, child hunger programs coordinator for the Lowcountry Food Bank, said she works closely with Erica Schmitt, Stall's bilingual family services advocate, to provide healthy options that students will actually eat.
"If she says rice and beans, we're going to bring rice and beans. If she says fruit, we're going to bring fruit," Allison said.
Students and families can choose items from shelves in the In-School Pantry at Stall High. Paul Bowers/Staff
Paul Bowers/StaffThe pantry is also discreet, operating by appointment out of an unmarked former office on a quiet hallway. Schmitt said this helps students and families avoid the stigma of going to a food bank.
Nearly three-quarters of the more than 1,400 students at Stall are in poverty, according to the school's most recent state report card. In addition to free or reduced-price lunch, many students take advantage of early-morning and after-school programs that provide breakfast and dinner.
Stall, Project H.O.M.E., the City of North Charleston and other community partners helped build a house near the school this fall that can house up to four homeless students currently attending the school.
According to 2016 survey data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 13 percent of households in South Carolina were deemed food-insecure, meaning that they "were uncertain of having, or unable to acquire, enough food to meet the needs of all their members because they had insufficient money or other resources for food. This figure was slightly higher than the national average of 12.3 percent.
The Lowcountry Food Bank is a nonprofit organization, and donations are tax-deductible. For more information, visit lowcountryfoodbank.org.
Rachel Allison (left), the Lowcountry Food Bank's child hunger programs coordinator, worked with Erica Schmitt, Stall High's bilingual family services advocate, to set up the In-School Pantry at Stall in the fall of 2017. Paul Bowers/Staff
