Plainview Pantry Receives Support
By Sherri Blevins
The Plainview Pantry receives support. House Majority Leader, Nathaniel Ledbetter, presented a $2,000.00 check to Plainview Assistant Principal, Marilyn Bryant and Plainview Science Teacher, Brandon Renfroe, for the newly organized Plainview Pantry. Ledbetter, along with DeKalb County Superintendent Dr. Jason Barnett spoke with organizers of the pantry about its origin and current operation. Organizers started the program in 2019 to provide food during the week to students who may currently go hungry.
Bryant explained that participation from the faculty, support staff, and the community has been amazing. She stated, “The outpouring of support for this program has been shocking. You never know who may show up to help. For example, one day I came into my office where the food pantry is to find Ms. Charlotte, our janitor, stocking the pantry with groceries items I had left on the table. You never know who may be in here helping with the pantry. It has been amazing. Someone in the community donated the shelves we use, and Mr. Hall, our Ag Teacher, added wood for the shelves. One student, who is in the Boy Scouts, plans on building even more storage space as a part of an Eagle Scout Project.
Superintendent Barnett asked Bryant about the Plainview Pantry Committee. She stated, ”There hasn’t been a formal committee; our teachers and support personnel have pitched in to make the program work. Some help more than others, but only because they have more time. It has been a group effort.”
Ledbetter asked Renfroe, “Why did you want to do this.”
Renfroe explained how it all came about. He stated, “ Last year toward the end of the year, we all were thinking about we could do to meet the hunger need in our community. Mr. Richards, Plainview’s Principal at the time, told me that 57% of the school’s population received free or reduced lunch. I think that it would surprise a lot of folks to know that over half the population at PHS qualifies at the poverty level. I started reading a book called Reaching Kids – Teaching Kids in Poverty. One of the ideas in the book was to start a food pantry. We started researching how other schools are using them and what benefits they have. I don’t know who exactly came up with the idea, but while Ms. Bryant and I were talking about doing something for the kids that makes a difference in their lives, we settled on a food pantry. Back Packs of Blessings is a program that area churches started in the schools several years ago to provide qualifying children with food for the weekends. We asked ourselves, ‘What about those kids during the week? They probably need help everyday, not just the weekends.’ We decided to make that group our core group for the food pantry and expand from there.”
Renfroe described what has surprised him the most since starting the pantry. He relayed the story of a student who came to the pantry looking for assistance. The student told him that his family didn’t have a lot to eat at home. He said that on a good night, they would have frozen burritos; on other nights they would have Ramen Noodles. Some nights they would have nothing at all. He asked if this was the place he could get food. Renfroe replied, “It sure is, Buddy. Come on in.”
Bryant and Renfroe are working to develop a way for students to request and receive food in a strictly confidential manner that might encourage those reluctant students who need help to receive it without their friends’ knowledge.
Before leaving, Ledbetter thanked Bryant and Renfroe for their initiative in starting the program and said he felt that the program was so valuable that he plans on providing funds for food pantries at all schools in his district to get them started and continue operating. The Plainview Pantry receives support not only from the legislature but from the community, that has and hopefully will continue, to make food and monetary donations at supporting businesses.