‘Caring and kind’: Brookwood School students helping those in need with food pantry

Published 2:00 pm Monday, October 2, 2023

Isaac Cotman, a fifth-grader at Dalton Public Schools’ Brookwood School, said he was surprised to learn there are people who are “food insecure,” who may not have enough food or may not have secure access to food.

“I knew there were homeless people and that they may not have enough food,” he said. “But I didn’t know there were people who were food insecure, people who aren’t homeless. It made me sad to learn that.”

The Brookwood Humanitarians, which is composed of all the school’s fifth-graders, are working on two connected projects that advance what they are learning in the classroom and could help people in the community who are food insecure.

“They are collecting nonperishable foods for a little food pantry in front of the school,” said Daniela Bellin, a German immersion teacher. “This is a really kind and caring group of students. They want to help the community. They collect much of the food themselves.”

Little food pantries work much like little free libraries. They are stocked with canned and boxed foods that people can pick up 24 hours a day if they need it.

“I was surprised to learn that one in eight children in our community face hunger,” said fifth-grade student Carian Brown. “That’s sad. and I was super happy to learn we would be doing something.”

The students check the pantry at least once a week, and if it’s low on food they restock it.

“They’ll refill it, and just a few days later they’ll need to refill it again,” said fifth-grade teacher Kara Bryant. “It shows there is a need out there. These kids are really caring and kind. We talk about food insecurity and about how you can be one major medical emergency away from being food insecure.”

The students are also learning urban gardening, growing food in places where there may not be room to plant a garden.

“We are trying to learn how to grow seasonal food,” said Bryant. “We are doing broccoli, chard, kale, carrots, radishes, beets. Things that grow in cool weather. We are growing them in recycled milk jugs.”

“Once we are successful in growing them on our own, our plan is to come up with a how-to guide,” she said. “We are going to put seeds in milk jugs and put those in the food pantry so people can not only come and get food from the pantry but grow their own food. They won’t just have boxed and canned foods but can grow fresh produce.”

Fifth-grader Olivia Patterson said she is happy to be helping others and is learning a great deal.

“With the garden, we are learning about how plants need sunlight, they need water at certain times,” she said.

Bryant said everything the Humanitarians are doing ties back to what they are learning. The garden, for instance, ties back to what they are learning about plants in science class.

“We are looking at what kinds of plants are we growing,” she said. “Are they vascular or non-vascular? Are they seeded or not seeded. That ties into science.”

“In social studies, they’ve covered the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl, and all of the food insecurity that came with that and with being involved in World War II,” she said. “We covered Victory Gardens.”

Victory Gardens were planted by private citizens or as community efforts during World War I and World War II. They allowed people to grow food to supplement their wartime rations.

Bryant said the projects even tie into math classes.

“We talk about how much money people need to qualify for food stamps, budgeting your expenses,” she said.

People who want to contribute to the food pantry can bring canned and boxed foods to the school.