Caitlin Alfano

November 16th, 2020

The School Pantry Program with Island Harvest

Description of services

There are over 100,000 children on Long Island who are dealing with food insecurity. To help

children have better access to food this the School Pantry Program was put in place through

Island Harvest. This program is operational at 35 schools, including 3 college pantries on Long

Island. At these schools, food from the pantry is offered to students throughout the school year in

a discreet manner. It is done in a way to take the stigma out for those who are in need of food

assistance. By having on-site school pantries, it allows a convenient way for families and

students to get access to food they need in a trusted and comfortable environment (Island

Harvest, 2020). During COVID-19 when schools were not open for students to access the food

pantry, Island Harvest set up a drive thru distribution so that families could get food throughout

the pandemic.

Sponsoring agency/Funding source

According to G. Bottone (personal communication, October 15, 2020), this program is mainly

funded through a federal grant. Island Harvest works with Stop & Shop to receive food from

their stores to stock the food pantries at local schools. Another means of the program receiving

food sources for the program is through donations sent to Island Harvest.

Population served

The School Pantry Program assists ages 5-18 years old and their families at the schools that

provide the pantries (Island Harvest, 2020).

Number of individuals served

In 2018-2019 the program assisted 52,000 children and their families. More recently as a result

of COVD-19 the program had a 150% increase. The program is now assisting 1 in every 10

students on Long Island (G. Bottone, personal communication, October 15, 2020).

Eligibility criteria

This program does not have any eligibility criteria. Any students in need can be a part of the

program as long as the school district verifies that they are in need of support for their students

and families. The schools reach out to Island Harvest if they are in a high needs area (e.g., free

reduced lunches and/or families need extra support). Island Harvest then set up the School

Pantry Program at the school to build their pantry (G. Bottone, personal communication,

October 15, 2020).

Referral system

The school psychologists refer kids through their own schools for the program and then inform

us how many students need the assistance. The program relies on the schools to report numbers

to Island Harvest to further evaluate if new food pantries need to be organized at a school (G.

Bottone, personal communication, October 15, 2020).

Outcome measures

The School Pantry Program supported more than 52,000 children and their families at 39 sites

with over 860,000 pounds of fresh produce and healthy, shelf-stable food, supplementing more

than 716,000 nutritious meals from 2019-2020 school year (Island Harvest, 2020).

Evaluation methods

Evaluation of the program is conducted by examining participation of students at the school

pantries. At the end of each school year the individual pantries evaluate how many students and
families they have assisted through the school pantry (G. Bottone, personal communication,

October 15, 2020).

References

Island Harvest. (2020). Children. https://www.islandharvest.org/children/