(Arlington, TN) A group of Shelby County high school students are taking care of their own.
Bolton High School opened its own food pantry, so no students or their families go hungry.
“It’s really new to our school. No other school has it,” said Alyssa Isenhour, a Bolton High student.
She and other students put an old dusty closet inside their school to good use.
They opened a food pantry to feed fellow students and their families.
The National Honors Society got the idea from a counselor last fall, so they asked their principal.
“When they came to me, I thought this is going to be a no brainer,” said Principal Chad Stevens.
The students teamed up with the Mid-South Food Bank and opened up shop last fall.
They’re currently feeding more than 20 families.
Students give four full sacks of food a month. They pack the bags and even collect canned food to add to their shelves.
The families remain anonymous and the deliveries discreet.
“We don’t see the families, but we get to see the reactions. I’ve come in here before where there’s so much on the shelves. Then I come in, and there’s nothing on the shelves because so many people come in,” said Isenhour.
Only the program’s supervisors know who’s getting what.
“They’re just so gracious and thankful. They tell us there are months where they don’t know what they are going to eat or where the food is going to come from,” said co-supervisor Marti Martin.
Even though students can’t see who they’re helping, they take pride in their pantry and hope to set an example for other schools.
“It gives you a really good feeling inside when you get to help a family in need,” said Isenhour.
Around the holidays, the students fed more than a hundred families at other schools.
Right now, they are raising money for freezers and said they could always use more food.