West Suburban Community Pantry - Service Learning

In our science class, we have a hydroponic flex farm which currently grows both lettuce and basil. At the beginning of the year, when this unit was introduced, we decided that hunger was a need that has to be addressed in our community. This led us to think about how we could address this issue. The students brainstormed and thought about donating food to a food pantry. Using contacts in our classroom, we decided on reaching out to the West Suburban Community Pantry. They were more than excited to have fresh produce that could be provided to their clients!

We had a representative come to Goodrich to provide background knowledge on the West Suburban Community Pantry. Here we became educated on how the food pantry works and who is eligible to go. We were also able to brainstorm how we can educate the clients on where their fresh produce is coming from. Once the representative left, we got straight to work and created a one page document that can be posted on the refrigerator.




While the representative was at Goodrich the students also asked a lot of great questions. Many of them revolving around what a food pantry looks like and how they provide the food for the clients. We decided it would also be beneficial for the students to see where the produce they are growing is being donated and that they could participate in projects to assist with the pantry.

On Friday, November 8, Mrs. Graff's class was able to have this experience. Students were blown away by how much it looks like a true grocery store similar to a Costco that has more of a warehouse feel. While we were there, we participated in various projects to support the food pantry. The first was the place individual bags of flour into an additional clear bag. This was to ensure there was no mess. Then, we helped to restock canned apricots and cut tags for a coat drive that they will be having for the winter. Finally, we went across the street to another warehouse. Here we assisted in other additional projects. A local church just collected a ton of food for the food pantry. Our job was to check expiration dates to make sure the food we were giving the clients were safe. We then sorted the canned food into popular vegetable categories such as corn, green beans, pasta sauce, etc. because a local school in Romeoville is actually starting a pantry of their own.

All the students had such an incredible time and are even more motivated to continue helping in our community. Many asked the representative at the food pantry how they can get their parents involved and come back again. I am so excited for Mrs. White's class to go next week!