ROANOKE. VA – Grocery stores are few and far between in Northwest Roanoke.
“Times have been hard in the last several years,” Minnick School Philanthropy Coordinator Ashley Morales said.
It’s a food desert. And coupled with high prices - it can be difficult for families to get what they need.
“No one should feel bad about needing anything extra,” Morales said.
But now - the Minnick school is serving up more than just education – they’re feeding hope to the community.
Philanthropy Coordinator Ashley Morales noticed a gap for many of their students.
“We’ve had kids that you know, at the end of the day come to their teachers and tell them how hungry they are. Those are the kinds of things as a philanthropy coordinator that keeps me up at night,” she said.
Those restless nights turned into an idea: the Abundance Food Pantry.
“It’s a give what you can, take what you need mentality,” she said.
It’s simple. All you need to do when you walk into the pantry is go up to one of the cabinets. Once you open it, you can choose from dozens of nonperishable food items. Plus, they even have some fresh produce.
Ninth grader Jonah Caldwell tells us he’s seen the need in his classmates.
“It’s a lot of necessary food for people who can’t afford it or who just don’t have the transportation capabilities of getting to the store to get it,” Caldwell said.
He hopes the pantry will help bring families together.
“It’s something they can eat and have a good meal, and probably something they can eat at the dinner table and hang out at,” he said.
Morales says she knows asking for help can be hard - but at the pantry, there’s no judgment.
“We’re not trying to make any families feel like charity cases. We want this to be something where everybody feels like it’s for them. And they can take ownership they can contribute, they can take from it,” she said.
And by making sure families are fed, they’re ensuring a brighter future for everyone involved.
”We recognize that all of our children here, we are educating them, but it’s more than just that. We’re trying to recognize the whole family and the whole child in our approach.”
