C. C. Spaulding Elementary School in Durham serves a population of students of which 99% receive free and reduced-price breakfast and lunch. They used to distribute BackPack Buddies to a large number of their students so that children would not go hungry on the weekends when school was not in session, but they realized that a significant portion of the foods they were sending home was going uneaten and being thrown out. Jennifer Whitlock, Spaulding’s School Counselor, knew there had to be a better way to respond to the needs of the children under her care, while also addressing the issue of food waste. She turned to the Child Hunger Program team at Inter-Faith Food Shuttle, and it was determined that the solution the school was looking for was a School Pantry.
The timing of this decision could not have been better as Whole Foods Market recently made a $20,000 in-kind gift to Inter-Faith Food Shuttle as an investment in several School Pantries in Wake and Durham counties. This support came in the form of shelf-stable product to stock the shelves of the Pantries with nutritious foods as suggested in the "Foods to Encourage" framework assembled by Feeding America in 2021. The Food Shuttle and Whole Foods Market have enjoyed ten fruitful years of partnership in the joint mission of ending hunger in our community.
On a recent visit to the Spaulding School Pantry, we met up with Jennifer Whitlock, Assistant Principal Brooke Harris, and local Whole Foods Market team members, Durham Store Team Leader, Tiffany Denis-Hill, and Regional Senior Marketing Specialist, Josh Frederich. Whitlock shared that the Pantry has been a major success in serving the Spaulding community. Eight families regularly receive food from the Pantry each month, and on occasion, there have been “emergency” users.
Jennifer Whitlock, Rachel Quigley of Inter-Faith Food Shuttle, Tiffany Denis-Hill, and Brooke Harris
Familiarity with the needs of the families served by the Pantry has helped Whitlock to know what to order when stocking the shelves. “A lot of the families don’t have access to a full kitchen, so the foods have to be able to be cooked in a microwave or they can’t require refrigeration. Shirley has been a big help with this,” Whitlock adds, referring to Shirley Monroe, Child Hunger Program Coordinator for the Food Shuttle. Whitlock says she has been amazed by the variety of items provided for the Pantry, and she was so happy to see that hygiene products—soap, shampoo, and conditioner—were also available, as many of the families who use the Pantry are transitioning from living in hotels to shelters and no longer have ready access to such items.
When asked what the biggest impact of the School Pantry has been on the Spaulding community, Whitlock does not hesitate to answer. “It lets the children know that there is a place that they can go that shows someone cares about them. They may never see those people face to face—especially with COVID—but it lets them know that someone out there really cares. And that makes all the difference to a child.”
