OHS Food and Clothing pantry: more than a student resource
By Reagan Rozzi
Picture of pantry room number and flyer taken by Reagan Rozzi
Owasso High School not only teaches its students algebraic expressions and grammar principles, but also the importance of team bonding and selfless volunteerism. Our community contains members from all walks of life, who are supported by the town’s abundant resources. A prime example of said resources is the OHS Food and Clothing pantry, located in room 129 on the East Campus.
The pantry is run by the school’s FACS and counseling departments. Both students and staff volunteer their class time to contribute to the revamping of the school’s food and clothing pantry. Although the resource has been around for years, the members of the OHS community have made it one of their top priorities to update its contents. (Picture of pantry on right, taken by Reagan Rozzi)
Senior Hailey Murphy, who often spends her office aiding period volunteering with the pantry, described, “With the food, we sort what’s expired and what’s not expired…For the clothes, we actually just donated a lot of the clothes we knew that weren’t gonna get used…we just hang up and fold a lot of the clothes we do have.”
Murphy also expressed how it seems as though students don’t seem to know about the pantry’s existence, which many volunteers agreed with. While word-of-mouth has been a huge help in spreading awareness of the resource, the staff has also printed miniature posters that are hung up throughout the school, containing basic information as well as a QR code for students to scan for further details.
“At the beginning of the school year, we realized that no one really knew about it, so we created these flyers…we [also] started putting out weekend bags,” college and career counselor Addison Sewell shared.
These “weekend bags” consist of basic necessities such as toiletries and canned foods—which are constantly restocked for student accessibility—located in the lobby on a small table just outside of the counseling office. No reservations or prior communication with a counselor is required; the goal is for kids to easily grab and go with a bag on their way out of school. (Picture of ‘weekend bags’ on right, taken by Reagan Rozzi)
In addition to the premade ‘weekend bags,’ Coach Kristian Stitt—another volunteering staff member—creates ‘holiday packages’ (such as for Thanksgiving or Christmas) so that no student celebrates a holiday without a home-cooked meal. ‘Holiday packages’ include canned, boxed and bagged dishes that are easy for any student to prepare. (Picture of holiday basket on left, taken by Reagan Rozzi)
The specific end goal for the pantry is for students to grab a basket and ‘shop’ the pantry for any and all resources they might need, which will hopefully begin soon with the amount of time students and teachers have put into re-organizing the pantry. , the pantry is still available for students to utilize at any time (with help from an office staff member to unlock the room), regardless of the browsing process. For further information, contact Kristian Stitt (kristian.stitt@owassops.org), Judi Leander (judi.leander@owassops.org) or a member of the OHS counseling team.
