HJMS Eighth Graders Connect Their Kitchen to the Community

In her kitchens at Henry James Memorial School (HJMS), Family & Consumer Sciences (FACS) teacher Diane Rigby teaches her eighth graders a lot more than the skills they need to handle food—she also teaches them that there are folks in their own community who are food insecure and that it is important to help out.

During the fall months and the recent holiday season, Rigby’s eighth grade “FACS for Life” students baked snickerdoodles, brownie bites, and M&M cookies and made chocolate covered pretzels for bake sales to raise funds to donate to the Simsbury Food Pantry. They raised a total of $236, and on February 20th, the director of the Simsbury Food Pantry, Kristen Formanek, stopped by to accept a giant check from the group.

The Simsbury Food Pantry serves approximately 80 households per month, a statistic that may be surprising to some who view Simsbury as an overwhelmingly affluent community. Formanek marveled at how the HJMS students used their culinary skills to benefit others. She said, “With the food pantry, every family gets fresh food. These are families right here in town. It’s a way we can really help.”

Affirmed Rigby as she turned to her students, “What better way to help our neighbors?”