More than 46 million Americans rely on food pantries and meal programs in order to feed themselves and their families. At Hayes, several food drives are fighting against this issue with help from the students and staff.
There are nearly 14 million children that live in food insecure households in America. In Ohio, 1 in 5 children face hunger. When COVID had first hit, many families were left with little to no source of income. This left many families, and specifically children, without meals. Although the issue is not as prominent now that COVID has died down, people still need help and support.
In the Willis building resides The Pacer Pantry, a food pantry that is run by volunteers to serve the community. It is a bigger project and is a part of The United Way Family Resource Center. It also has more storage to hold more products and in turn they are able to take care of more people. They hold multiple events throughout the year and are always available for help.
Hayes hosts multiple food drives throughout the year, but many of them root back to the Hayes Food Pantry. The pantry, run by intervention specialist Rebecca Saunders, is made up of donations from various food drives and is a small-scale way the teachers here have found to help students in need.
The pantry consists of non-perishable food items and hygiene products. The items take the place of the chromebooks on the storage shelves in a teacher work area, due to them being in use.
After COVID, Saunders had begun to volunteer at Common Ground. There, she found inspiration from a mini food shelf for people to take as needed.
“I saw how many would take the food, and would be really grateful for [it],” Saunders said. “So I knew that it was a need in our community.”
Most food drives that collect for the Hayes Pantry are run by sports teams and people from the school. Although not majorly advertised, the pantry would love to help more students and reach more people.
“The biggest thing with the drives is, it’s about getting the word out,” Vice-President of National Honors Society (NHS) Morgan Hohman said. “Because it’s always hard [to say], ‘Oh, students bring in food and stuff’ while they’re just trying to do school work.”
One of the food drives is run by the NHS. NHS contributes to the food pantry by flyering through the neighborhoods of Delaware. When flyering, each volunteer goes around a neighborhood and gives out flyers asking for donations. Then, later in the week, they go back around and collect what the people have rounded up to donate. They then give some of their proceeds to the Hayes Pantry and some to the Pacer Pantry.
Like NHS, Key Club sets up a booth next to the main office. There, they have a sign with items that are needed, then students and faculty members bring in the wanted items through the week. Their latest drive was from Nov. 19 to Nov. 22, in which Key Club collected non-perishable food items to donate to families in need for a Thanksgiving meal.
“A lot of people don’t really have the money to have big meals, and everybody deserves to have it, especially during [the holidays],” Key Club President Maria Maes said.
The Hayes Pantry is always in function and is willing to help as soon as students or families contact a counselor or a trusted adult. There are hygiene products, easy to cook meals, and basic necessities. Throughout the school year, the pantry gives out food bags made from the donations.
Key Club, NHS, and Student Council also hold many other charity events such as toy drives and the newest for Student Council, coat drive. For the coat drive, students and faculty members are invited to bring in winter jackets and sweaters and leave them in the area near the lost and found. These coats will then be donated to People in Need (PIN).
“It’s very soothing to know that if there are kids who are struggling or families that are struggling we can help them here and now,” Saunders said.
