By Anneliese Duong & Natalie Tran
For more than five years now, Fountain Valley High School’s (FVHS) food pantry has been serving meals to students and families who are unable to provide them for themselves.
Ever since the pandemic hit, the Baron food pantry has needed donations more than ever to keep up with the demands of weekly free student breakfasts and lunches.
The pantry provides staples needed to make meals to students and staff. To keep it alive and running, the FVHS Peer Assistance Leadership (PAL) club, with help from supervision, hosts food drives seasonally to collect a variety of supplies, from basic groceries to essential hygiene products.
“We pack up about two bags full of groceries weekly and we give [unprivileged families] those basics,” supervision secretary and PAL advisor Dawn Basquez said. “So rice, beans, pasta, sauces, canned vegetables, canned fruits and snacks. [We also ask for] flour, sugar, pancake, syrup, pancake mix and cereal.”
With the donated items, PAL works with supervision to record the inventory and organize the pantry. As the weeks follow by, the donations are packed and sent off to families connected to FVHS.
“People in the Baron community are able to anonymously sign up for the pantry service through Dawn Basquez in Supervision,” PAL co-president senior Muna Naseer said. “Our families pick up food on a weekly basis so food is constantly being given out.”
In comparison to past years, items used to be donated during specific holidays and breaks but it shifted to a more urgent situation of providing weekly. Basquez noticed the change immediately after the pandemic hit.
“When we first originated, we were providing to different families only during our breaks. So Thanksgiving break, winter break, spring break and that was it,” Basquez said. “But…when COVID first started, from March of 2020 until the end of last school year—June of [20]21—we provided weekly, and that was throughout the summer as well.”
To make sure that the donations are consistently rolling out to students, families and staff this year, PAL and Supervision are working with three different departments: history, math and world language. In each of these classrooms, you can find a large cardboard box with photos of what items the pantry is requesting. Some requested items include marshmallows, Jell-O, pie crusts, honey, brownie mix and cooking spray. Each classroom is assigned different supplies to make sure that all donations are equal in variety.
“There are boxes in math, history and world language classrooms, which provide advertisements themselves since most people will see them in their classes,” Naseer said.
This year, PAL is also trying to spread the word further with help from the FVHS’ National Technical Honor Society and California Scholarship Foundation. From collaborating with the clubs, different flyers are posted to the club Instagram accounts for more exposure.
In an effort to provide the most (and best) options to families, PAL and supervision need your help. Someone you know may be in need of these donations and these food drives have been created to provide a helping hand to them. Having seen the success of these food drives in providing consistent meals to students, it is very likely that you will see more of them throughout the upcoming years.
“We host the food drive because we have a need for it on this campus. Most people perceive FVHS as a more affluent school, but we have families from all different income levels,” Naseer said. “We saw a need and chose to fill it. PAL has been hosting the food drives for the Baron Food Pantry for years and wants to continue helping and providing to the pantry.”
If you’re a student who needs help from the Baron Food Pantry, feel free to fill out this form.
