On the Parkrose High campus, tucked between classrooms and crowded hallways, there is a small room filled with fresh fruit, canned goods, warm clothes, formal dresses for prom and a variety of hygiene products.
Presiding over it is the school’s family resource navigator, Ben Katz. In the past three years, he has worked with student and community volunteers to turn the Parkrose Provides food pantry from an under-the-radar space to a lifeline for families at the high school.
“Students before the pandemic noticed that a lot of their classmates were hungry and that a big reason for that was that they didn’t have enough food at home,” Katz said. “They worked to raise start-up money for a lot of the resources we have today.”
Leadership and AVID students launched Parkrose Provides in 2018. The pantry was student-run until Immigrant and Family and Resource Center, the nonprofit that runs the school’s SUN program, hired Katz to oversee it full-time in 2021.
The pantry is open every day during the school year, both during lunch and after school. Parkrose students and families are the pantry’s main customers. Currently around 10 to 15 students consistently visit, and 18 families are signed up to have food boxes delivered to their homes.
The pantry’s signature offerings include its Backpack Program, which gives any students asking for assistance a backpack full of food and other hygiene products they may need to take home to their family.
Over the years, as awareness of the pantry has increased, so have the number of volunteers and donors that show up to help out.
“A lot of community members will just drop things off at our school, mostly clothes,” Katz said. “We’ve been able to partner with Historic Parkrose, which is a neighborhood organization that has helped us support families by finding financial assistance. The Oregon Health Authority has also done some resource fairs to get a lot of the school supplies we have.”
Additional donors include the Rotary Club and St. Rita’s Catholic Church along with the Oregon Food Bank.
Alex Bolin, a Parkrose freshman, said he first visited the pantry seeking snacks after hearing about it from a friend. When he got there, he discovered the many supplies available to him.
“I come in here for snacks, clothes, a little bit of everything. I find that the pantry gives students a place to go if they need something. Things to eat or clothes to wear. There’s something for everyone,” Bolin said.
Sophomore Alyssa Baker said that as a student officially designated under the federal McKinney-Vento law, which supports students who are coping with housing instability, her teachers directed her to the pantry.
“I found the pantry when I was in a really low place in her life and my teachers and counselors suggested I come here,” she said. “I went home with multiple boxes that same day.”
It has made a difference for her whole family, Baker said.
“It’s not just for me. I have so much family. I have babies to take care of. I’ve been able to get my nieces and brothers clothes from here as well,” she said.
Despite its wide outreach, the pantry continues to struggle to meet demand. Donations are unpredictable and items like food and female hygiene products go fast.
“Every time there’s a new cart full of food with some nice snacks there’s like a flood in here, they all want some,” Baker said. “There should be more eyes on it. More donations could help for sure.”
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This story was written by Angie Diaz, a junior at Parkrose High School and a student reporter for Youth Voices. Her goal is to attend a four-year university, majoring in journalism with a minor in literature.