S4 E6 - Feeding Our Kids & Community Ft. Dr. Shannon Anderson

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 environment. Schools take an active role in this, along with community organizations. In this episode we are talking with OSD Student Services Director, Dr. Shannon Anderson, to learn about how we support students and families in this area.

Episode Transcript

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 (00:00):
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environment. Schools take an active role in this along with community organizations.
In this episode, we are talking with OSD Student Services Director, Doctor Shannon Anderson to learn about how we support students and families in

(00:25):
this area.

SPEAKER2: Welcome to this episode of Inside the OSD podcast, where it's all about the kids. (00:28):
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Here is your host, lifelong educator and our superintendent, Doctor Leslie Bergstrom.

SPEAKER3: Could you please introduce yourself to our audience? (00:41):
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Well good afternoon.

SPEAKER4: Thank you so much for having me today. My name is Shannon Anderson. (00:45):
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I'm the director of student services for the Oregon School District.
In this role, I have the opportunity of working with many different professionals across the district.
For example, I get to work with our school counselors, school psychologists, school social workers,
and a number of our community partners.

SPEAKER1: Thank you. That was a great description of your work. (01:08):
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So as student Services director, you also partner with others in the community, as you mentioned.
Can you talk about your work in the community with respect to food insecurity?

SPEAKER4: Absolutely. Um, we think about supporting the whole child through many different community partnerships. (01:21):
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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.
Um, however, in regards to food insecurity specifically, uh, we are fortunate because Oregon has its own food pantry.

(01:45):
The Oregon Area Food Pantry serves, on average, probably close to 8 to 900 visits,
um, each month. Uh, we're serving over 200 households, every month as well.
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

(02:10):
food pantry. 35% of the people who use the pantry are youth between age birth and age 17.
So a lot of the families and individuals that they serve have children.
Our social worker team collaborates very closely and helps families get connected with the pantry,

(02:31):
and also helps to support that work. We also have programs that partner the school district with the pantry.
For example, during long breaks, we have something called the food for breaks program,
where families can pick up gift cards for different grocery stores to help offset the expense of food when their kids are home,

(02:51):
when our school lunch program isn't available.
So, for example, this fall for the October November break, we had 61 families in the Oregon School District access this program,
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
food pantry to make sure that the kids get the food that they need.

SPEAKER1: Well, I'm so grateful for that partnership, for the work of the food pantry in general, (03:14):
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just because we know how critical the need is.
And we also know how important it is for our students to have their needs met when they're coming to school.
So the number of 35% of the people served are youth.
That's a really important number to keep in mind.

(03:37):
Now this topic is really timely with what's been going on, um, with respect to our economy and the federal shutdown.
So what are you seeing in terms of the need within our community?

SPEAKER4: So we're seeing several things. Um, I would say, uh, earlier this year and within the last year, (03:50):
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we're seeing an increase in need in our community, so more people are coming to the pantry.
We're serving more households and they're having more visits.
So it's like a point of comparison. Um, there were 855 visits in August, but in September there were 962 visits of

(04:13):
individuals.

SPEAKER1: That's 100 more! (04:13):
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SPEAKER4: Um, in August, we had 20 people brand new to the pantry who had never been there before. (04:15):
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And in September we had 27. And so the number continues to tick up.
Uh, but the other piece of this is that we are losing access to other sources.
So we utilize different food banks in the area that tend to supply a lot of food,
and we're not able to get the food from them that we historically have in the past.

(04:39):
Uh, so, for example, we used to get turkeys from Second Harvest Food Bank.
They're not available this year to us. So we are now having to turn to, uh, different local community partners.
Students in our FFA have raised chickens that will be able to use for Thanksgiving.
And so we're just getting really creative in different ways that we can access our community partnerships to,

(04:59):
to fill that need. We know that the community needs will mirror what the needs of our students are,
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
need.

SPEAKER1: Well, once again, I'm so grateful for this work because to summarize what you just said, (05:15):
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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.
So I'm also concerned about, um, new needs popping up in our community.
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,

(05:40):
but they may have a need now, what should families do if they have these needs for the first time?

SPEAKER4: Sure. Um. Great question. Um, one thing. (05:46):
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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.
We do have school social workers assigned to every building and they are an awesome team.
They can help connect you with resources at school and if you have community needs,
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

(06:14):
pantry. I would encourage you to visit the Oregon Area Food Pantry website, which would have all the information you would need,
but to register for the pantry, you would need a proof of residence, household information size,
and then photo ID for your household members.
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

(06:39):
the pantry. Um, another thing that we're getting questions at the pantry, um, especially for employees,
for the federal government who haven't received a paycheck, they might not consider initially going to the pantry because their income might
be higher and they've never had a need, but that's okay.
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.

SPEAKER1: I'm so glad you said that, because I think the first time one accesses a resource is probably the most difficult. (07:02):
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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,
it's there for you.

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. (07:17):
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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,
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.

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, (07:40):
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um, it really it feels like one's grocery shopping because one is.

SPEAKER4: Yeah, absolutely. (07:54):
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SPEAKER1: Yeah. So what can families or community members do to help if they're able to help right now? (07:55):
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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, (08:01):
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look for an email blast coming out the first week of November that will highlight,
um, all kinds of different resources that our school social worker team has pulled together.
So if you have some financial needs this time of year, we're going to share with you a whole bunch of resources,

(08:23):
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
if you have the time and the means to help.
So look for that information coming soon.
Otherwise, um, some other ways to get involved.
The food pantry does have an Amazon wish list.
Uh, where you can you just order it and it gets delivered to the pantry.

(08:45):
You don't need to do anything else. Um, we also have a Culver's share night on November 3rd.
So go out to dinner and some of the proceeds will benefit the pantry.
You can follow us on Facebook, um, and see what's going on to stay connected.
Um, if you're a club, sport or business is interested in hosting a food drive.
Uh, that's another great way to get involved.

(09:07):
And we're always looking for volunteers.
We're looking for volunteers who can help with distribution, um, people who can help with yard work,
with food recovery, um, helping us with other projects like social media.
There's just so many ways to get involved.
Um, because again, it takes a community to make this service available for everyone.
And of course, there's the obvious food.

(09:29):
We can always take donations of food.

SPEAKER1: And what types of food does the pantry need the most? (09:31):
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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. (09:34):
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Uh, but generally speaking, things like pasta, pasta sauce, cereal, uh, peanut butter,
jelly, canned meats, and definitely cleaning and hygiene products are always in really great need.

SPEAKER1: Thank you so much for speaking with us on this important topic. (09:54):
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This is just one example that highlights one of our five distinct values strong family and community partnerships.
The OSD and our families are really grateful for this work.
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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We'll see you next time on Inside the OSD, where it's all about the kids.