Jordan Barbour reported this story on assignment from The Bradford Journal Opinion. The Community News Service is a program in which University of Vermont students work with professional editors to provide content for local news outlets at no cost.
Food insecurity doesn’t recognize state lines. New Hampshire and Vermont both battle the problem, and that’s where Rivendell Academy stepped in.
The small interstate school in Orford, N.H., has added a food pantry to aid in the fight against hunger among the academy’s students and the community at large. Five of Rivendell’s educators and administrators began the arduous process of creating a food pantry in 2022, and as of Monday Dec. 4, their efforts led to the school’s launch of a community food resource.
The Rivendell Food Pantry is located in the school’s lower building and is open from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. on Mondays and Fridays.
At Rivendell, school leaders consider it fundamental to connect real-life community needs to the lessons children learn. Keri Gelenian, principal of Rivendell school, has always been passionate about locally sourced food, he said. During his time at the academy, students have worked in a greenhouse, plucked eggs from a chicken coop, and eaten fresh school lunches made by a dedicated kitchen staff.
Gelenian hoped to send the 9th-grade class to glean from a vegetable patch at a local farm but dropped the idea after running into logistical problems. The principal still wanted to find other solutions that would provide students with an educational experience as well as access to healthy foods.
After hiring Elizabeth Roy as a farm-to-school coordinator, Gelenian and other staff members turned more attention to learning about food-waste solutions. Roy created projects to teach students to grow their own food and compost in the greenhouse. She showed educational films and hosted guest speakers. That’s when Rivendell leaders began circulating the idea of starting a food pantry.
“We have free breakfast and lunch for all kids, which is amazing, but we really were seeing there’s still a real need in the state” Roy said. “The latest (statistic) I heard was something like two out of every five families right now are experiencing some sort of food insecurity.”
With the help of Michelle Oakes, executive assistant to the head of schools, Roy began to investigate the steps to start a food pantry. After a few phone calls, they discovered they needed sponsorship from a 501(c)3 entity to even apply. They also had to show an established need for the pantry in order to receive food from the New Hampshire Food Bank.
The Rivendell group secured a sponsorship from Orford Social Library, which submitted a letter of support for the project. The New Hampshire Food Bank responded that it would consider supplying the pantry after it was up and running for about six months.
The organizers still needed to set up a space and get food and storage supplies. The advocacy organization New Hampshire Hunger Solutions connected Roy with supermarket chain Hannaford, which provided a $5,000 grant. That allowed the school to purchase a refrigerator, cabinets, a rolling cart and food stock to last until the pantry can become certified by the state food bank.
Since then, the “fast and loose team,” as Gelenian put it, has worked to spread the word about the pantry through social media and posters put up around the district and online. School councilor Nancy Hall organizes meetings for the group, which also includes Stephanie Chestnut, dean of students.
“We’re just trying to make sure that people know it’s open to anybody, like there is no criteria,” Gelenian said. “It doesn’t matter your need or socioeconomic status. It’s just anybody.”
Opening the doors to the public isn’t necessarily enough to make students more comfortable accessing the pantry, the educators have found. Negative associations and fear of judgment from peers could prevent students from seeking out the free food, even when they need it, Roy explained. By offering grab-and-go bags and operating during after-school activities, Roy said, she hopes they can remove the stigma of the pantry and convince students to view use of it as “no big deal.”
The group is also trying to arrange for students to manage the pantry during its after-school hours, Oakes said. “We’re very big on trying to, for instance, form some relationships there between our students and the community.”
Either way, the pantry is there for visitors who need it — just as the Rivendell group envisioned, Roy said.
“Everyone deserves to be nourished.”