Working for the weekend: Weekend meal program provides food for Greenwood students

Volunteers at the Interchurch Food Pantry keep a watchful eye. As food donations come in from across the county, they're always on the lookout for certain items. Macaroni and cheese cups, protein bars, oatmeal, cereal, snack items — anything that middle school or high school students might like and are easy to fix are set to the side. Those items are destined for a special program to make sure Greenwood students don't face hunger on the weekends or when school isn't in session. 'We keep a very close eye on items that we receive that would be good for the high school students. They're mostly single-serve things, things like that. When one of those comes in, we say, 'That would be perfect for the Greenwood meal packs,'' said Liz Cooper, vice president of the Interchurch Food Pantry's board. For the past four years, the Interchurch Food Pantry's Weekend Meal Packs has helped students at Greenwood Middle School and Greenwood High School who may need extra assistance accessing food. The bags of nonperishable food are provided to school counselors, who discretely provide it to the students who need it as the weekend approaches. 'Weekends can be really difficult for these kids. This offers a bit of reprieve from the stress of food insecurity,' said Kara Christian-Moss, Greenwood High School student service advisor. Since its start during the 2023-24 school year, the food pantry has gone from providing 60 meals each month to packing 100 meals to each school monthly. With the help of the Franklin Community High School Interact Club, the program is a glowing example of the community supporting community. 'There is such a big need,' Cooper said. 'The pantry is just thrilled to be able to help in this way and find another avenue for us to fight food insecurity. And with this going to kids in school, it makes it even more special.' The idea for the Weekend Meal Packs grew out of the COVID pandemic, in the winter of 2022 and 2023. As pantry leaders took time to brainstorm additional ways they could help the community, their focus turned to the best way to support children. Cooper learned that Mt. Auburn Church in Greenwood had partnered with Isom Elementary School to pack weekend meals for some of the students. 'When I found out about it, they invited me to come and see what they were doing as they packed grocery sacks of kid-friendly, primarily single-serve food for them to have on the weekend,' she said. 'I just thought that was the coolest thing.' 1 of 8 Cooper, in turn, reached out to Greenwood Schools administrators, to see if there was an opportunity for the Interchurch Food Pantry to further support the students. At that time, no one was providing weekend meals for middle school and high school students. 'So we jumped on it,' Cooper said. As the food pantry was starting the program, a serendipitous phone call presented them with a willing partnership. The Franklin Rotary Club contacted pantry leaders, looking for ways its Interact Club for high school students could get involved with. Interact is a service club of Rotary International aimed at students ages 12 to 18. Interact clubs are sponsored by individual Rotary clubs, which provide support and guidance, but they are self-governing and self-supporting. At Franklin Community High School, the Interact Club works on service projects including taking part in Christmas Angels and writing letters to local nursing home residents. Volunteering at the Interchurch Food Pantry has been a major part of their service. Once per month, club members come in on a Saturday to help pack the meals. Phil Howard, an Interchurch Food Pantry board member and volunteer, oversees the process, but lets the students do the majority of the work making sure the packs have the proper food items and are ready to distribute to students. 'The Interact Club has also been doing this for four years. They've stayed with it, and it's really become a neat leadership opportunity — they put a student in charge of it, the student makes sure they have a crew to come on the second Saturday of the month to do the meal pack. And when the leader graduates, another comes up behind them,' Cooper said. With the meals packed, pantry leaders coordinate with Christian-Moss at Greenwood High School and Kelly Forey, counselor at Greenwood Middle School. Each school takes a different approach to the program, but both are handled discreetly to ensure students are comfortable in participating. At the high school, the program is more under the radar. The middle school, on the other hand, calls the group 'Nutrition Club.' 'Families are grateful for the assistance, and the students are excited to get different items in their bags each week,' Forey said. For Interchurch Food Pantry leadership, seeing the program grow and thrive has been encouraging. And knowing that the Weekend Meal Packs are feeding young people throughout Greenwood makes it even more special. 'It really has been a blessing for us. The fact that it's been something that's been sustained for four years for us, really means a lot,' Cooper said. HOW TO HELP Interchurch Food Pantry Donations People can support the food pantry by mailing a check to Interchurch Food Pantry, PO Box 147, Whiteland, IN 46184. People can also give online at jcpantry.org. Once on the website, people can click on the 'Donate' button. Food donations can be dropped off between 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Monday-Friday at 211 Commerce Drive, Franklin, while non-perishable food can be donated at any time in the after-hours donation box at the southwest corner of their parking lot. Volunteers To sign up, go to jcpantry.org/volunteer.