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Youth bring food accessibility to their front door

'Take what you need and leave what you can,' the motto of new food pantry in Fergus created by students
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Students showing off their nearly finished community pantry outside of Faith Evangelical Lutheran Church beside J.D. Hogarth Public School. From left, Marley Mannerow, Ysabel Arteaga, Flora Garside, Shiloh Gitter, Megan Hales, and Isabella White.

A group of students in Nava Zarrabi-Yan’s Grade 7 class at J.D. Hogarth Public School wanted to to do something to make their community better.

With the help from a grant from the Upper Grand District School Board, she and the students have done just that.

“This group was passionate about lower income and having good food, healthy food and what they came up with was a community pantry,” said Zarrabi-Yan.

As part of the class curriculum, Zarrabi-Yan implemented the United Nations sustainable development goals into every subject she taught this school year.

“All these issues are current in our lessons learning about history and seeing how there’s inequalities in history, and there’s still inequalities today,” she said.

The pantry will be located at the Faith Evangelical Lutheran Church near the school where there is also little community library.

When Zarrabi-Yan contacted the church to see if they could place the pantry on the property, it turns out the church had already thought about the idea.

“This is definitely a need in the community and we want to do what we can to support the initiatives of young people and we think it’s a fantastic idea,” said Rev. Gloria Ryder.

Not only are the students hoping the community donates non-perishable food items, but also hygiene products and toiletries. Students said next year they want to run a food drive to stock up on non-perishable items for the pantry. 

With help from tech teacher Dylan Gordon, the students built the pantry using precise measurements, tools, windows and wood.

Students said they will put a sign next to the pantry with the slogan “Take what you need and leave what you can.”

One student said there is a community pantry in her neighbourhood which inspired the idea to make one to put near the school.

“It was being used so much and I thought that was so great,” said Grade 7 student Marley Mannerow.

The students said they will put up posters around the area to let people know the pantry is there.

“Keep going. Don’t give up when it gets hard. You can do it,” said Mannerow.

The students said they had some difficulty building the pantry at first because they need the correct dimensions and materials to put it together. They still need to screw on the pantry door.

“We thought it would be really good for the community to have a place, especially near our school where you can grab food if you need it,” said Mannerow.