TBAISD New Campus to open school food pantry - UpNorthLive.com

TBAISD New Campus to open school food pantry - UpNorthLive.com

TBAISD New Campus to open school food pantry

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (WPBN/WGTU) -- A new project is underway at Traverse Bay Intermediate School District's New Campus.

“It’s obviously still in its infancy stages," said school psychologist Kristin Ryder as she turned to look at the small collection of non-perishable food items behind her. "This is our first rack.”

When Ryder and a few other administrators attended a conference in November, they heard of other schools starting their own food pantry, and loved the idea.

“We could do that," Ryder reflected on her initial thoughts. "We have families who need that, we have kids that are in need.”

“We did kind of a rough study of the population of students that we have, and we feel that 1/3 of our students miss a meal during a week’s time,” said New Campus Principal Jessica Harrand. “It was one of the big needs that we just really saw in our students, that they needed to be able to have healthy nutrition in order to access education.”

While the project, named "Spirit Pantry," is still underway, the school hopes to have the pantry fully operational for students and their families by Fall of 2018. Making sure no students come to school hungry.

“That is first and foremost," said Ryder. "We want to make sure our kids feel safe when they come to school. Part of that feeling of safety is looking at their basic needs."

Before they open, the school is in need of donations. Their biggest need currently is a refrigerator to store fresh food items. If you are able to help, please contact TBAISD.