Green Bay’s East High School has developed a food pantry program called “Eats for East.” The food pantry was created to remove barriers for students to ensure all students can be successful learners.
Staff refer students in need to social workers and school counselors who partner with students and their families to determine what assistance may be needed.
Students referred to the pantry receive a bag or bags of food depending on the need and the number of individuals in the household. Since students at East have the ability to access free breakfast, free lunch and free dinner at school, these bags of food are provided to supplement meals at home, especially over the weekend. Some families may need short-term support, while others who may be struggling with homelessness or other challenges may need greater support for a longer period of time.
The program has also extended to Sullivan Elementary School, which feeds into East High School. East High School students supported the start-up of Sullivan’s pantry with a $1,000 donation. Currently, East High School students who run their pantry walk bags of food to Sullivan on Tuesdays for distribution to families. As part of Sullivan's renovation work, there is a new location for their growing pantry.
"Sullivan was so thankful for the weekly food bag donations," said Heather Seaborn, co-advisor for the Eats for East program. "We wanted to continue to pay it forward, as we have received so many generous donations for our Eats for East pantry that it only made sense to help Sullivan with a monetary donation to help them start their own in-house pantry."
“Our children know what kindness and compassion look like and feel like,” said Sullivan Elementary School Principal Peggy Fisher in a letter of gratitude to East High School for the start-up donation. “The seeds of kindness you are planting will blossom into a Sullivan food pantry, with our Sullivan students helping to create it,”
In addition to providing weekly bags of food for students in need, the students involved with the pantry also coordinate several yearly events: Thanksgiving baskets for East families, cookie decorating at Christmas, Easter baskets for a local women’s shelter, and a peanut butter/jelly drive.
The pantry is supported through the generosity of East High School staff, the Green Bay Area Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, Aurora BayCare (which has provided the bags for food), and other community partners.
The pantry not only supports East families and feeder schools, but it also provides wonderful leadership and service opportunities for student organizers. Recently, East High School hosted an open house and ribbon cutting ceremony to unveil a new mural painted inside the pantry. The mural was painted by East Fine Arts Institute student Emily Trigueros.
Those wishing to support Eats for East can do so through food and monetary donations, and gift cards to Pick ‘n Save.
