More than 200 runners took to the streets of Windham and Camp James A. Garfield Joint Military Training Center for not one, but two good causes despite cool temperatures on Veterans Day.
The Windham School District held its first half marathon/5K race to raise funds for a food pantry the school is starting. Samantha Pochedly, the district’s treasurer, said because the race was on Veterans Day they also wanted to help a veterans charity.
Wags 4 Warriors unites veterans who have PTSD with a service dog. The group also provides training, equipment and support for the dog, at no cost to the veteran.
"We are going to hold the race every year the weekend of Veterans Day and the goal is to choose a different veterans organization each year," Pochedly said. "There are so many out there who are doing good things we want to spread the love."
She added the race was a great way for kids to give back to their community as students volunteered to run water stations along the route and assisted with registration, handing out medals, serving lunch and even post-race cleanup.
The proceeds from the race will be split 50/50 between Wags 4 Warriors and the new food pantry at the junior-senior high school.
Assistant Superintendent Laura Amero said the pantry was the brainchild of Pochedly and Superintendent Gregg Isler. Windham is considered a high poverty school district with 65 percent to 70 percent of the students considered in need. The district provides free breakfast and lunch for students during the week, but officials saw a need to help students have food over the weekend, which the pantry aims to provide.
"We plan to run it out of the front of the building on Fridays to allow students to "shop" for food for the weekend," Amero said. The pantry will be housed in a former office that will be convenient for students to pick up groceries on the way out after school.
In order to make the pantry a reality, the school needed to establish a nonprofit organization, which Windham Bible Church was able to assist with. After donating school supplies to the school for students in need, WBC Pastor Chad Froelich and his wife, Karen, asked Amero if there was anything the church could do to help the schools. Amero explained the need for a nonprofit and the church stepped up to help.
Froelich said he was excited for the opportunity to be involved.
"We felt like God opened that door for us to be able to partner with the school as we agreed on partnership to go in and be a part of telling the students they matter and we want to make sure their basic needs are provided for," he said. "I think that’s an important piece of what it means to be the church and to minister to other people ... to be able to say ‘you matter, you are valuable,’ God did that for me and I want to pass it forward."
Amero said the church is also helping with paperwork and reports for the nonprofit as well as donating grocery bags, and possibly food drives.
The pantry is currently scheduled to open mid-December, Amero said, noting they had hoped to have it up and running by November but after partnering with the Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank were required to take a food safety training class and were still ordering pallets and shelving for the pantry. In addition to food items, some personal hygiene items will be made available as well.
Katerina Shew has made the pantry her senior project and has sat in on meetings, attended the food safety class and helped with ideas and decisions along the way. Shew came up with the idea to have a bake sale at some home basketball games this fall to help raise money.
"I know there are a lot of kids who have trouble at home when it comes to food and how to make food," Shew said.
Pochedly said they are in the very early brainstorming stages of expanding the program to include meal preparation so students know how to cook the food they are given. Amero said next year she hopes the program also will expand to have a pantry at Katherine Thomas Elementary School. She said Shew would be training at least one junior in the early spring to take over her role, and possibly a second student who can assist with the pantry at KT Elementary.
While the program is designed for students in need, Pochedly said the only requirement is that they are a Windham student and no one will be turned away.
Reporter Briana Barker can be reached at 330-541-9432, bbarker@recordpub.com or @brianabarker1.
