Tag Archives: food-pantry

School pantry helps in many ways

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by Ashley Sarmiento Rodriguez

The Patterson High School pantry is a place where students can donate canned goods, toothpaste, clothes, shoes, feminine products, and any other resources needed by other students, families, and the community. There are hundreds of families of Patterson students who may not be able to always afford certain necessities and the pantry is always there to help anyone who is in need. The school pantry also gives out the food they receive from donations to students to take home.

I think that having such amazing resources at our school is a great thing because it’s nice to have a comfortable spot to be and to be able to bring food home for your family. If one day you are cold or you don’t have a sweater, go to the pantry and they’ll solve your problem. If you know your family can’t get you some things that you need, then go to the pantry and ask about it and they will do everything they can to solve your issue.

Another thing the pantry ladies do is at the end of the school day every other day there are bags of food with many useful foods to take home and it’s open to all students to take home right before leaving the front doors. I think having that in schools is a great idea because it helps a lot of students who come to our schools and don’t have much and not be embarrassed or scared about it.

Ms. Reid and the other people who run the pantry are very nice and are always ready to help and solve people’s issues however they can. Another big way they help students is that students who don’t have enough service learning hours to graduate and need more can bring donate food and necessities to the pantry and get some hours for that. I’ve also known of people who go in there and help organize and clean up for some service learning hours. I was one of the students who needed hours and Ms. Reid had me help set up. It was a big help in lowering the number of hours i need. The pantry is a valuable resource to have in school and there should be one in all schools to help students or anyone who needs anything.

Patterson provides services to meet student needs beyond education

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By Deontay Blackwell

Ms. Lia Reid, Community School Director
(Photo by Deontay Blackwell, Patterson Press)

Like most schools in Baltimore, Patterson High School offers services or help to students who may need it. For our school, we have a plethora of services that need to be better known by the general student population.

Ms. Reid, the community school director, runs the community center at Patterson, better known as the pantry. She helps to bring partnerships into the schools based on students’ needs. For example, she brought the B.A.T.S Automotive Club to our school last year and an interpreter program this year. 

“I have a lot of families come in just to get food to take home for the weekend or holiday break, we get frozen meats which is new this year, we also get a lot non perishable items all the time in the pantry.”, Ms. Reid said.

Ms. Reid also runs the Clipper Closet where people can find any clothes they need. Ms. Reid explained how the community center can provide clothes for people like button-downs, ties, and dresses for job interviews or any other reason. Even if there’s none on hand students can request a specific article of clothing that they might need if asked. They also have a lot of shoes and jackets not just for students but for anyone in their family who might need some clothes or request sizes for people who might have younger siblings by working with other schools that have clothes as well.  

Ms. Reid also has a comfort closet within the community center where she keeps toiletries and feminine hygiene items for students who might not have some, in addition to that she sometimes even has household items like laundry detergent, sheets, pots, and pans.  

While Ms. Reid operating the community center here at Patterson brings in much support for students, the nurse’s office/health suite next door also provides medical services for students here. Katie, the nurse practitioner here, helps provide medical care to students while other nurses are giving vaccines to students, doing physicals for upcoming student-athletes, helping kids with chronic illnesses like diabetes, and giving medication to those who are sick. They can even help with allergens and other minor chronic illnesses. The health suite is run by the Baltimore Medical System which also supplies them with the things they need on a day-to-day basis. Students can also receive STD testing, condoms, birth control, and sign themselves into a confidentiality consent law that doesn’t require their parents’ permission to receive these services. 

Although there are many services at our school that are unknown to most students, you can always ask the Main Office or a teacher for help and they will direct you to someone who can help with your needs. There are many more services besides the ones mentioned in this article.