Marysville High School students in Teacher Lindsay Welk’s vocational skills classes and classroom paraprofessionals are pictured above stocking the shelves of the Monarch Market, a new pantry for students in need of additional food over the weekends.
(Photo submitted)
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The Monarch Market has officially opened as a resource at Marysville High School for any student in need of additional food at home.
The market is a collaboration between the high school’s Inner Club Council, FFA and Teacher Lindsay Welk’s vocational skills classes.
Senior Meghan Morey said as an FFA officer she was in charge of the September FFA meeting. She explained that there were not any planned activities for that month, so her instructor, Cody McClain, suggested she research the concept of a hunger banquet.
“So, that’s like a simulation of how food distribution is so uneven between classes in a real-life banquet-style dinner,” Morey said. “Each student got a card as they walked in, and they had a seating arrangement based on that card. Then, their meal for that evening was based on that card.”
Morey said the experience was an “eye-opening activity for a lot of our FFA members.”
“I followed that up with a presentation about some different facts and statistics about how hunger affects not only our world but also here in the United States, how it is a real issue,” she said. “It’s not always brought to our attention, especially our age group.”
The FFA members were motivated to address the issue of food insecurity when they learned one in four children in Ohio are not sure where or how they will get their next meal. The students noticed a lack of assistance for their peers, saying high school students age out of the programs offered at the elementary and middle schools in the district that address food insecurity.
The FFA chapter members discussed creating a food pantry at the high school to help their classmates.
Marysville’s FFA chapter received a one-time $3,600 grant from the Agricultural and Rural Community Outreach Program (ARCOP) available to FFA chapters “to fund community development projects in the areas of educational agricultural programs, agriculture awareness and promotion and agriculture and food economic development,” according to the Ohio FFA Foundation.
Junior Libby Ramge added that the Inner Club Council, which is a group of presidents and officers of school organizations, discussed having all the organizations host a food drive to stock the market.
“The Hope Center has been filling in the gaps for us,” Welk said.
The Monarch Market is located in the old high school office that was most recently used for storage space. Ramge said agriculture students built shelves for the pantry.
There will be food stations set up inside the guidance office door and also on the first floor in B Hallway (the nook near Entrance A) every Friday at the end of the school day. The food stations will have bags of food set up for students to take with them as they are exiting the building for the weekend. Josiah Crouso, a junior, said his vocational skills class prepared about 30 bags for the first day on Friday.
Welk said her three vocational classes divide the responsibilities of taking inventory, stocking the shelves in the market, checking expiration dates and filling the bags for the food stations.
The Monarch Market relies heavily on donations from Marysville High School families and the community. The market received almost 2,000 donations before it opened, said Avery Eley, a sophomore.
Food items needed include: canned meat (i.e. tuna, chicken, etc.), peanut butter, heat-and-eat meals (i.e. mac and cheese, ramen, Spaghettios, etc.) canned soups, oatmeal packets, canned fruit and fruit cups, canned vegetables, quick sides (i.e. instant mashed potatoes, Pasta Roni, etc.), and snacks (i.e. granola and cereal bars, Pop-Tarts and crackers).
The market is also seeking donations of hygiene products such as deodorant, soap, body wash, shampoo, toothbrushes and toothpaste.
Welk said the market is “super low on peanut butter and canned meat” at this time.