For his last semester, Tyler Fishbourne, 19, wants to give back to the Wildcat community.
Fishbourne is graduating from Temple High School in June and he is hoping another student will carry on with his community service project, the Wildcat Pantry.
“The Wildcat Pantry is something I started to give back to the Wildcats, to basically people who don’t have the money to go get dental hygiene, feminine products, or (are) too embarrassed to ask their parents for them,” Fishbourne said. “They can come to the Wildcat Pantry and they can get it from there without having to be embarrassed.”
Fishbourne’s collection of toiletries is mostly donated in kind, with some cash donations. Everything is free to those who need it.
“Primarily we’re taking in-kind donations — we really don’t want money,” project sponsor Stephen Bishop said. Bishop is a Temple High art teacher, and he and Fishbourne bonded over shared health concerns.
“Tyler ... he is a Type 1 diabetic, and I’ve got pre-diabetes, so Tyler was coming in every day saying to me ‘Mr. Bishop — what’s your blood sugar? What’s your blood sugar? What’s your blood sugar?’” Bishop said. “Tyler has got this servant’s heart, he cares for people, and as he’s getting closer to graduating he’s like ‘I want to do something to leave a legacy at this school.’”
Because Bishop is sponsoring the project, Wildcat Pantry items are stored in a shed connected to the school’s art program, in among the pottery supplies.
“It’s been pretty neat to see him work,” Bishop said. “We’re trying to find someone to train to continue the legacy. ... This kid, who has been in and out of the hospital his whole entire life with diabetes has decided ‘Hey, I want to help other people.’”
Fishbourne’s project is fairly new, since he only started it this semester, but he has a few students stop by needing assistance each week.
Fishbourne tries to make sure that the pantry is discreet, so that no one who comes there for supplies has to worry that other people will know they can’t get the products they need on their own.
“I see it growing in the future,” he said. “Sometime next month I want to try getting non-perishable foods going.”
Fishbourne is excited about graduating. He plans to study technology at Temple College and eventually get a corporate job at Baylor Scott & White McLane Children’s Hospital.
“With the Type 1, I need good a good health care (plan), that will keep paying for my diabetic supplies,” he said. “They have good health care. My dad’s been working there for 12 years now.”
Bishop said the pantry can supplement the existing Communities in Schools program, which also tries to help students with non-educational needs.
“They (CIS) are always swamped,” Bishop said. “The amount of resources that our schoolchildren need — we probably could do 10 Wildcat Pantries.”
