Latest / Inside the OSD / S4 E6 - Feeding Our Kids & Community Ft. Dr. Shannon Anderson

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S4 E6 - Feeding Our Kids & Community Ft. Dr. Shannon Anderson · Inside the OSD

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  SPEAKER1: Helping to ensure that Oregon School District children have enough food to eat is something that has become an increasing area of focus in our current
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  environment. Schools take an active role in this along with community organizations.
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  In this episode, we are talking with OSD Student Services Director, Doctor Shannon Anderson to learn about how we support students and families in
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  this area.
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  SPEAKER2: Welcome to this episode of Inside the OSD podcast, where it's all about the kids.
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  Here is your host, lifelong educator and our superintendent, Doctor Leslie Bergstrom.
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  SPEAKER3: Could you please introduce yourself to our audience?
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  Well good afternoon.
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  SPEAKER4: Thank you so much for having me today. My name is Shannon Anderson.
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  I'm the director of student services for the Oregon School District.
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  In this role, I have the opportunity of working with many different professionals across the district.
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  For example, I get to work with our school counselors, school psychologists, school social workers,
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  and a number of our community partners.
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  SPEAKER1: Thank you. That was a great description of your work.
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  So as student Services director, you also partner with others in the community, as you mentioned.
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  Can you talk about your work in the community with respect to food insecurity?
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  SPEAKER4: Absolutely. Um, we think about supporting the whole child through many different community partnerships.
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  And one of the reasons why I feel so fortunate to be in the Oregon School District is because of the great support we have from many community partners.
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  Um, however, in regards to food insecurity specifically, uh, we are fortunate because Oregon has its own food pantry.
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  The Oregon Area Food Pantry serves, on average, probably close to 8 to 900 visits,
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  um, each month. Uh, we're serving over 200 households, every month as well.
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  I get to serve on the board of directors for that organization, which really helps to create a nice liaison between the school district and the
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  food pantry. 35% of the people who use the pantry are youth between age birth and age 17.
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  So a lot of the families and individuals that they serve have children.
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  Our social worker team collaborates very closely and helps families get connected with the pantry,
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  and also helps to support that work. We also have programs that partner the school district with the pantry.
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  For example, during long breaks, we have something called the food for breaks program,
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  where families can pick up gift cards for different grocery stores to help offset the expense of food when their kids are home,
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  when our school lunch program isn't available.
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  So, for example, this fall for the October November break, we had 61 families in the Oregon School District access this program,
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  which served 122 of our students. Wow. So we're really grateful for the partnership that we're able to establish between the school district and the
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  food pantry to make sure that the kids get the food that they need.
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  SPEAKER1: Well, I'm so grateful for that partnership, for the work of the food pantry in general,
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  just because we know how critical the need is.
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  And we also know how important it is for our students to have their needs met when they're coming to school.
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  So the number of 35% of the people served are youth.
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  That's a really important number to keep in mind.
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  Now this topic is really timely with what's been going on, um, with respect to our economy and the federal shutdown.
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  So what are you seeing in terms of the need within our community?
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  SPEAKER4: So we're seeing several things. Um, I would say, uh, earlier this year and within the last year,
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  we're seeing an increase in need in our community, so more people are coming to the pantry.
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  We're serving more households and they're having more visits.
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  So it's like a point of comparison. Um, there were 855 visits in August, but in September there were 962 visits of
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  individuals.
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  SPEAKER1: That's 100 more!
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  SPEAKER4: Um, in August, we had 20 people brand new to the pantry who had never been there before.
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  And in September we had 27. And so the number continues to tick up.
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  Uh, but the other piece of this is that we are losing access to other sources.
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  So we utilize different food banks in the area that tend to supply a lot of food,
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  and we're not able to get the food from them that we historically have in the past.
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  Uh, so, for example, we used to get turkeys from Second Harvest Food Bank.
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  They're not available this year to us. So we are now having to turn to, uh, different local community partners.
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  Students in our FFA have raised chickens that will be able to use for Thanksgiving.
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  And so we're just getting really creative in different ways that we can access our community partnerships to,
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  to fill that need. We know that the community needs will mirror what the needs of our students are,
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  and so they're very interrelated, and we just are trying really hard as a board to make sure we have the resources to give our families and our kids what they
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  need.
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  SPEAKER1: Well, once again, I'm so grateful for this work because to summarize what you just said,
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  the need is up and the amount of, um, food that's coming into the pantry is going down right now.
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  So I'm also concerned about, um, new needs popping up in our community.
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  So if you--if someone is a community member and they're listening to this and they've not had a need in the past,
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  but they may have a need now, what should families do if they have these needs for the first time?
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  SPEAKER4: Sure. Um. Great question. Um, one thing.
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  If you have a child in the school district, I would encourage you to connect with a member of our school social worker team.
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  We do have school social workers assigned to every building and they are an awesome team.
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  They can help connect you with resources at school and if you have community needs,
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  they can help do a warm handoff to maybe resources in the county or other individuals specifically if you're interested in accessing the food
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  pantry. I would encourage you to visit the Oregon Area Food Pantry website, which would have all the information you would need,
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  but to register for the pantry, you would need a proof of residence, household information size,
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  and then photo ID for your household members.
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  And if you have children, we can print off information from the school information system that would count as verification when you go to register at
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  the pantry. Um, another thing that we're getting questions at the pantry, um, especially for employees,
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  for the federal government who haven't received a paycheck, they might not consider initially going to the pantry because their income might
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  be higher and they've never had a need, but that's okay.
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  We welcome everyone at the pantry, and we will do whatever we can to get families what they need to get through this difficult time.
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  SPEAKER1: I'm so glad you said that, because I think the first time one accesses a resource is probably the most difficult.
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  So knowing what they can do to access it, and the fact that even if you just need to access it for a short time,
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  it's there for you.
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  SPEAKER4: Yes, absolutely. Um, and one of the things I think that's really amazing about the pantry is it's completely staffed with volunteers.
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  And so, um, it's a team of people who really care about this community and really care about the guests,
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  um, and really strive to create a welcoming environment where people can feel safe and accepted at wherever they are and whatever their needs are.
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  SPEAKER1: And one of the things I really like about it is it has a very similar vibe to a grocery store where you go in and there's carts and there's aisles and,
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  um, it really it feels like one's grocery shopping because one is.
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  SPEAKER4: Yeah, absolutely.
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  SPEAKER1: Yeah. So what can families or community members do to help if they're able to help right now?
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  SPEAKER4: Uh, there are a lot of things we need. Um, well, first of all, if you are, um, if you have children in the district,
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  look for an email blast coming out the first week of November that will highlight,
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  um, all kinds of different resources that our school social worker team has pulled together.
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  So if you have some financial needs this time of year, we're going to share with you a whole bunch of resources,
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  including the food pantry. Um, and then the second part of the letter has a whole bunch of different ways that you can serve the community this time of year
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  if you have the time and the means to help.
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  So look for that information coming soon.
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  Otherwise, um, some other ways to get involved.
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  The food pantry does have an Amazon wish list.
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  Uh, where you can you just order it and it gets delivered to the pantry.
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  You don't need to do anything else. Um, we also have a Culver's share night on November 3rd.
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  So go out to dinner and some of the proceeds will benefit the pantry.
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  You can follow us on Facebook, um, and see what's going on to stay connected.
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  Um, if you're a club, sport or business is interested in hosting a food drive.
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  Uh, that's another great way to get involved.
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  And we're always looking for volunteers.
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  We're looking for volunteers who can help with distribution, um, people who can help with yard work,
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  with food recovery, um, helping us with other projects like social media.
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  There's just so many ways to get involved.
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  Um, because again, it takes a community to make this service available for everyone.
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  And of course, there's the obvious food.
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  We can always take donations of food.
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  SPEAKER1: And what types of food does the pantry need the most?
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  SPEAKER4: Great question. Um, if you go on our website, we will always maintain a list of the items we need the most.
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  Uh, but generally speaking, things like pasta, pasta sauce, cereal, uh, peanut butter,
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  jelly, canned meats, and definitely cleaning and hygiene products are always in really great need.
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  SPEAKER1: Thank you so much for speaking with us on this important topic.
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  This is just one example that highlights one of our five distinct values strong family and community partnerships.
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  The OSD and our families are really grateful for this work.
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  Remember that you can find links to all episodes of Inside the OSD and submit topic ideas on our website at OregonSD.org/podcast.
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  You can find this podcast anywhere you can find podcasts.
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  Make sure to subscribe if you're listening on one of these apps to get notifications on the most recent episodes.
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  We'll see you next time on Inside the OSD, where it's all about the kids.