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Food donation event prepares families for school year

By Karassa Stinchcomb
Posted 8/15/18

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Food donation event prepares families for school year


Posted

MIDDLEBURG – Cars lined the parking lot at Wilkinson Junior High recently as almost 1,100 residents received food donated from the nonprofit Farm Share.

Each vehicle received one box containing a meat item, dairy, vegetables and cookies at the hour and a half event held Aug. 9. Families also received juice and bottled water. The food was donated from Farm Share, which is under USDA and gathers and reclaims food from grocery stores like Walmart and Publix.

The donation was held at Wilkinson Junior High as part of the new Community School Partnership initiative created by the Florida Legislature this year in the aftermath of the Parkland high school shooting. The partnership involves the Clay County School District, Children’s Home Society and St. Johns River State College, which performed a community needs assessment to determine the needs of Clay County residents.

The driver ofeach vehicle filled out a USDA, which asked questions such as family’s name, address and number of family members. The form helps the USDA to keep a record of who they are helping.

Summer Burrell of Middleburg is the community partnership school director at Wilkinson Junior High and has been partnered with Farm Share since January. Burrell said she believes food donations like these provide much-needed sustainable resources to the Clay County community.

“Everything has to be long term and sustainable,” said Burrell, who comes to the school via the Children’s Home Society.

Some Clay County residents who need assistance include grandparents who are raising their grandchildren. The grandparents may be on Social Security or some other type of fixed income and may not have extra income to provide food for their grandchildren, according to Burrell.

Wilkinson Junior High serves as a community hub, which allows for Clay County residents to receive clothing, food, medical care and other resources. The goal is to help nurture the entire child, so children can focus on being good students and not have to worry about where their next meal is coming from.

Volunteers from the Clay County Sheriff’s Office assisted with traffic and loaded boxes of food into vehicles. Volunteers from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and teachers from the school helped put boxes together and clean up after the food drive.

This is Wilkinson Junior High’s fourth food donation since January, and Deputy Ed Kroh of the Clay County Sheriff’s Office would like to see more families take advantage of services and resources provided by the community. This is the second Farm Share donation at which Kroh has volunteered, and he has seen the number of participating families drop.

“There are a lot of people that need it, I just don’t think we’re reaching that core crowd,” Kroh said.

CCSO Public Information Officer Christopher Padgett agrees that residents in Clay County are not being informed of events and services like the food donation because families may not have access to a computer. Padgett encourages Clay County residents to help spread the word when food drives are scheduled and to volunteer their time.

“Families need to refer those families in need up here because some families might not see it on social media,” Padgett said. “Farm Share is a great program and they could benefit from people volunteering.”

Volunteer Carol Harcum of Orange Park is a teacher in Clay County and has been volunteering for the last 30 years because it gives her the chance to connect with the community. Harcum encourages Clay County residents to become active in the community.

“Residents need to continue to support these types of events through donating their time or maybe resources,” Harcum said.

Remaining boxes of food were donated to students and parents at Wilkinson Elementary School’s orientation on Aug. 10.

Wilkinson Junior High is also in partnership with Baptist Health and Wolfson Children’s Hospital, which are collecting medical tables and dental chairs, so the school can provide medical care to the Clay County community.

“Our core partners signed a 25-year memorandum of understanding, so we are dedicated to helping not only our children succeed, but we want to help develop and help the community and a whole generation,” Burrell said.

People who would like to donate or know of families in need of resources can contact Burrell at summer.burrell@chsfl.org.