Principal's Pantries help fill hunger need in Jordan School District
(KUTV) — From canned goods to personal hygiene items, the shelves are full at Copper Hills High School.
"We have toothbrushes, toothpaste, deodorant, soap, anything that a student or a family need," said Milonie Taylor the Homeless Liaison at Copper Hills High School.
Taylor designed the Principal's Pantry to look like a store. She says there is a need here. The school has nearly 3,000 students and 98 families are homeless.
A couple miles away at Terra Linda Elementary School, Cynthia Perez runs the Principal's Pantry. Every Friday, Perez fills a backpack with food for needy students to take home for the weekend.
"I try to get the number of people in the family and then just try to get enough food for Friday night to Sunday night," said Perez.
Terra Linda Principal Karen Gorringe says of her 600 students, 70 are homeless.
" It was hard to see them hungry and we felt like we were not even coming close to meeting their needs," said Gorringe.
Thanks to the Principal's Pantry, schools in the Jordan District now have a way to feed hungry kids. It's been an effort years in the making.
"I think people don't realize, that for some of these kids food is a luxury, who would ever think that?," said Hilda Lloyd the Homeless Liaison for the Jordan School District.
Lloyd saw the need early on during home visits to see why students weren't coming to school. She says more than 1,700 students in the Jordan District are homeless.
"I started seeing the need come up, every time i went to a home," said Lloyd.
Once Lloyd got connected to the Jordan Education Foundation, everything changed.
"Hungry kids, they can't learn. When they find out there are needs our communities are amazing how they step up and help," said Steven Hall the Executive Director of the Jordan Education Foundation.
Five years later, there is a Principal's Pantry in every single school in the Jordan District and a lot less hungry kids.
