At the Charles Drew Campus at East 170th Street and Third Avenue, many of the services students need to be healthy and productive — such as medical care, afterschool activities and counseling — are under one roof. But kids also need food — and many families in the Bronx struggle to get enough.
Enter the school-based food pantry, open three days a week, where families from I.S. 219 New Venture, Frederick Douglass Academy and Knowledge and Power Prep Academy can receive bundles of groceries to help them stretch their budgets.
“Once families know about it, they come consistently,” said pantry coordinator Enuma Okolo.
The pantry is run by Children’s Aid in partnership with Food Bank for New York City, which has helped to establish more than 50 school-based pantries.
Recent state data shows that the Bronx county ranked highest in food insecurity — and that was a survey of only adults. Many who work to fight hunger in the South Bronx say that the community’s need for nutritious food has only increased since the worst days of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Families at the Charles Drew Campus are no exception. The campus has seen 21 new migrant families so far this year, pantry organizers said — and many non-migrant families are also struggling, staying doubled up with others or in temporary housing.
Ronald Cope, a deputy director for Children’s Aid overseeing community schools in the South Bronx, said he is pushing for a pantry in every school.
He told the Bronx Times that during the pandemic, “The way we were connecting with families was through food.” In 2020, he and other staff distributed crates of free produce and weekly hot meals, thanks to special funding.
But when that aid dried up, “That need wasn’t just gonna go away,” Cope said — so the pantry allows them to keep helping families who need it most.
‘I get to engage with people’
The pantry employs a few students — three high-schoolers and one middle-schooler — to help distribute food, gain job skills and engage with families.
Ahsley Billar, 15, works at the pantry and told the Bronx Times that she uses most of her earnings — $112 every two weeks — to buy art supplies.
“I like working, not just staying home and doing nothing with my life,” she said, adding that she thoroughly enjoys working at the pantry. “I do like it a lot. I get to engage with people.”
Pantry workers said that meats are most popular, especially chicken nuggets for kids.
When the Bronx Times visited the pantry on Feb. 28, the shelves and fridges were stocked with canned foods, frozen fruits and vegetables, rice and pasta, juices, cereal, peanut butter, flour, and more, plus some supplies for cleaning and personal care.
Although items often change — and some, like vegetable oil, can take an annoyingly long time to make their way onto the shelves — families generally adapt to what is available, said Okolo.
Caprice Terry, parent of a New Venture student, told the Bronx Times she regularly receives food for her household of two adults and five children, ranging from 16 to 28.
Terry said she has been pleased with how well the pantry is organized, especially the emails and calendars that let her know what days are designated for New Venture families.
“It’s helpful to children and families, especially at the end of the month” when benefits start to run low, Terry told the Bronx Times. “I’ve been here faithfully.”
And although she doesn’t get to choose the food items, Terry said her family is fine with whatever they receive. “Whatever I can make work, that’s what it is.”
Overall, there have been “no complaints,” she said. “The food has been delicious.”
David Boyd lives with his 14-year-old granddaughter, who attends Frederick Douglass Academy within the campus. He said he visits the school pantry “off and on,” whenever he is running low.
Boyd said food can be expensive, especially since he has medical needs that require some dietary restrictions.
He said he appreciates having the pantry easily accessible at his granddaughter’s school. “You get what you can get and be grateful,” he told the Bronx Times — especially when he sees long lines at other pantries.
‘Caring adults’
Cope said the school, which takes a holistic approach to students’ learning and well-being, is a natural fit for a food pantry.
“We have the caring adults who assess the needs of families everyday,” he said.
The pantry is open to families with a student attending one of the three campus schools and runs Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 1-5 p.m. Parents sign up by registering their family size — the number of adults, children and seniors in the household. They then receive a card called a Plenty Pass, with a scannable code for easy sign-in at future visits.
Data from Plentiful, the tracking and reservation app used by the pantry, shows that in 2021-2022, the pantry served 1,528 families with ingredients for 27,307 meals.
Okolo, the pantry manager, said their funding only covers the school year, but she tries to “order strategically” to stretch offerings into the summer months. Emergency situations pop up constantly among families, she said, and she has to be ready.
She recalled hearing from a parent, pregnant at the time, who lost her benefits card and couldn’t get any food. Okolo and other staffer packaged up some groceries and delivered them to her doorstep — just one way the school tries to eliminate any barrier to student learning.
“[Families] know to call us when they need us,” Okolo said.
Just like other Bronx pantries and community fridges, this one at the Charles Drew Campus shows no sign of slowing down.
But they did receive some extra funding and plan to transition to a choice model, where families can pick items like they do at a grocery store. Okolo called this a “more dignified” model that also reduces food waste.
But in the meantime, she remains focused on getting the word out because families who don’t need help today might need help tomorrow. And if they do, Billar and other pantry workers will be ready.
“I know not everyone has the privilege of having a refrigerator full of food,” she said. So when she works with families to make sure they have enough to eat, “I get happy, too.”
Reach Emily Swanson at eswanson@schnepsmedia.com or (646) 717-0015. For more coverage, follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @bronxtimes
