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Date: 3/15/2023
HOLYOKE – The Holyoke Community Charter School and Stop & Shop teamed up on March 9 to distribute 100 grocery bags filled with food and personal care essential items to families in their continued efforts to address food insecurity.
Food insecurity has only grown across the state and country since the coronavirus pandemic and with recent inflation, causing many children and families to become food insecure. That is why last year Stop & Shop teamed up with the charter school in funding their in-school food pantry with a donation of $15,000 – a donation that was renewed for 2023.
This donation has allowed Holyoke Community Charter School to offer students in need and families food and other essentials through monthly food distributions and a full stocked, culturally relevant on-campus school food pantry.
“Eighty percent of our families are in the bracket of being a low-income family so for us it was a great opportunity to be able to do this,” said Holyoke Community Charter School Principal Dr. Sonia Pope. “Every time that we bring a bag to the cars and see the family’s faces, to us, is the true meaning of what community service is all about.”
Stop & Shop volunteers helped give out the 100 bags of items for families as the cars lined up outside of the school building during pick up. Manager of Communication Relations for Stop & Shop Maura O’Brien said these food distribution opportunities help to make sure the gap between school-provided breakfast and lunch is bridged when students go home from school.
“We are pleased to work with Holyoke Community Charter School, they’re an incredible partner. The work that they’re doing here is really impacting lives and the families that they’re serving, and it’s really an incredible way to give back to the community,” O’Brien said. She added credit to the school for also getting students involved in the distribution, as a group of student volunteers assisted in getting bags ready.
In Western Massachusetts, nearly 15 percent of children are food insecure, as compared to 11.7 percent across the state. As the need to address food insecurity grows, resources through charitable efforts like this partnership become more relied on. Holyoke Community Charter School is one of 170 school pantries benefiting from this Stop & Shop initiative.
Pope added that the school has used the program as a lesson for some students in teaching them about food insecurity as well as the importance of community support.
“It’s [teaching them] about being proactive and it’s okay to say that I need help,” Pope said. “Also, to teach them how we support one another, and I think that is a life lesson that everyone can use.”