PHOENIX — A south Phoenix elementary school is taking the stigma out of depending on a food pantry and creating an innovative way to get kids excited about spending time there.
At the peak of the pandemic, with many of their families struggling to get by, VH Lassen Elementary School started a modest food pantry that began on a single table in the cafeteria. They were soon able to fill a few more shelves thanks to donations.
Fast forward two years and it's become an oasis in the south Phoenix food desert — a packed room holding pallets of donations and serving 250 to 500 people a month.
"We're addressing inflation happening in grocery stores and food insecurity," said Principal Brian Lockwood, who adds the layout is key in making people feel more comfortable about reaching out for help.
"We don't just give them a box of food we let them shop in a grocery-style setting."
Lockwood thought they could model a grocery store even further and incorporate the pantry into their curriculum. Students are now learning how product displays and marketing work when they have an excess of a particular food, inventory, and they're having discussions about how it feels to create something that becomes a lifeline for some families.
"We're using our social studies class to connect to humanities courses to having students be part of the whole process," said Lockwood. "We have an opportunity to educate our kids now and give them the tools that they need to be an amazing role model in the future and carry those things all the way up to 8th grade and when they go to junior high and high school."
There are also nine gardens on campus that kids in every grade help cultivate. They're taught healthier ways to use the foods that they pick or pick out with their own families in the pantry. There's also a certified industrial kitchen on campus and in the next year, the hope is to reopen a student-run cafe using the foods they grow.
The food pantry is open to the community Wednesdays from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m.