POINCIANA, Fla. — Come this new school year, students and parents of Lake Marion Creek Middle School will have access to free food. What was once a teacher's lounge has been transformed into a food pantry. Feeding Tampa Bay packing the pantry ahead of the first day of school.
“Our Feeding Minds program started with five school pantries throughout the Tampa Bay area five years ago. Last year we served over 1.1 million meals in 42 pantries,” said Shannon Oliviero with Feeding Tampa Bay.
With more than 90 percent of students at Lake Marion Creek Middle participating in free or reduced lunch, the school's new principal, Wanda Aponte, realized there was a great need to provide students with access to nutritious food.
“This community is a food desert. I understand that to get to a place where you can buy vegetables and fruits, it’s 30 minutes either way you go,” said Aponte.
Aponte started a food pantry 12 years ago at her previous school after a student informed her that the only meals he had to eat were school food.
“I told him I was suspending him for two days. He started crying like a baby. I asked him why are you crying? He said Ms. Aponte I don’t have food at my house,” Aponte said.
She said students having access to nutritious food plays a critical role in their academic success.
“When we are hungry, we cannot be as effective as we like to be. School work isn’t important if you have a belly rumbling and I just want to make sure that their basics needs are met as much as possible here at the school,” said Aponte.