TRAVERSE CITY — A new pantry soon will open at the Traverse Bay Area Intermediate School District New Campus building to help meet some of its students' needs.
The project came to fruition after New Campus staff visited a trauma-informed school training in November. New Campus staff credit the training and knowing they have students in need for the creation of what they call the Spirit Pantry.
"We have a few families that struggle and have found there is a correlation between not having your basic needs met and having a behavioral incident at school," said Jessica Harrand, special education supervisor.
New Campus is a K-12 center based program for students throughout the district with emotional impairment or severe behavioral concerns that require a more controlled and structured environment for learning. The new pantry will focus on helping those students meet basic needs to help with their learning by providing food, some hygiene products and clothing.
"It's about meeting kids at their level of need," said Kristen Ryder, school psychologist. "After I came home from that training I knew we had kids that had needs that could be met through the pantry."
Ryder said the idea for the pantry came from the conference but grew from helping a student by filling a tote bag with food.
"That student would take what they needed to get through the day or the weekend and it grew from there," she said. "It is definitely in an infant stage as we have a lot of policies and procedures we have to work out but we are getting there."
Food contributions and donations from Hagerty Insurance, the Elk Rapids Rotary and a $1,000 donation from the TBA Credit Union have helped get the pantry functioning and available for emergency situations. The donations have already helped a number of students and families, Ryder said.
The school will search for grants to keep the pantry open with plans for a possible expansion, she said.
"Our funding so far has been through donations but it's more than that. We want to build community partnerships," Ryder said.
Relationships have already been forged with the Father Fred Foundation, the local Michigan State University extension and Food Rescue of Northwest Michigan. Students at the TBAISD Career-Tech Center also will create a logo and a mural for the pantry.
"I would like to be like a mini Father Fred. It'll take time but it was great to see how well they run with hopes we can be able to do that while providing for our students," said Ryder. "Working with the MSU Extension and Food Rescue will also help us provide fresh produce and healthy options and education to help nutritionally as well."
New Campus staff plans to have the pantry completely operational by fall 2018 for students. There are also plans for student involvement for stocking the pantry and processing incoming donations to teach life skills.
"We want our students to have their basic needs met so they can be healthy and function in school but we can also turn this into a learning opportunity for everyone to learn these skills," Ryder said.
"It's all about teamwork and to be able to help everyone while, for example, helping a student who might be in Mancelona whose parents can't drive to a food pantry in Traverse City is a good feeling," she said.
