Amherst St. Students Seek Your 'Doughnations'

Students at Amherst Street School are learning an invaluable lesson about making things happen.

For the past year they've been working together to help solve one of the schools most difficult problems: families in need of nutritious food.

Many Amherst school families are struggling – 75 percent of the school's 325 students qualify for free or reduced school lunches. Often teachers would observe that students who lack proper nutrition or sufficient food begin to suffer from other problems, including illness, absenteeism or disruptions in their concentration. 

So a group of parents and students have found a way to make a real difference, by launching a food donation/pantry program called The Backpack Program.

Sarah Marandos, a member of the PTO, explained how the program works – each week a team of volunteers, including parents, teachers and students, fills 50 backpacks of donated food items which are then sent home with a select number of pre-approved students on Fridays, to make sure they and their families have nutritious food for the weekend.

She said her daughter Kendall, a fifth-grader at Amherst Street School, helps out with the program, and was her inspiration for launching the food pantry last year.

"Kendall helps with the backpacks each week,  including the bake sale. She's the reason I started the program. I wanted her classmates to be ready to learn with full tummies when they came to school," Marandos said.

There are currently 50 families being served, and 15 families on a waiting list, Marandos said.

To make the program work, the school relies on various fundraising efforts, like the $150 raised during the Election Day bake sale. But the money doesn't go far enough, and so the generosity of the community, which sends in non-perishable items and cash donations, helps fill in the gaps.

This week's food drive is an attempt to stock up the shelves inside the school's pantry so that no child goes hungry this school year.

UNOs restaurant, 593 Amherst St., has also been an important partner since the program began a year ago, Marandos said. For example, during this week's push to bring in more donations, anyone who eats at UNOs and mentions they are there to support the drive will receive a free mini-dessert, and  20 percent of their bill will be donated to the food pantry program (including take-out orders).

Marandos said it takes about $5 to fill a backpack per week, which adds up. In addition to food donations, monetary donations are appreciated to help provide fresh foods for the backpacks. Cash donations can be made directly through the school's website.

Recently two Amherst Street students came up with winning slogans for the November fundraiser, and were awarded free pizza for a year from UNOs. They are Nadia Smith (first grade) who came up with "Project Dough Nation," and Zyon Charles (fifth grade) who came up with "Together - You Can, I can, We all Can.

The program was started in October 2012, and in its first week, 26 families signed up for the food backpacks. Since each family often has more than one student at the school, it is believed the program is likely serving about 100 students, nearly one-third of the student body.

To make sure there are enough resources, Marandos said the backpacks are distributed 25 at a time, every other week. 

A small area in the main office near the copy machine doubles as a food pantry, where shelves of canned vegetables, pasta, rice, oatmeal and healthy snacks are stored. School officials said they hope to fill the shelves with help from the community.

If you can help fill the Amherst Street Food Pantry, contact Sarah Marandos dwyers@nashua.edu or Deb Caron, of UNOS,  at dcaron@unos.com. Donations can be dropped off  between the hours of 11:30 a.m. and 11:30 p.m. at UNO on 593 Amherst St., and during school hours at Amherst St. Elementary School, 71 Amherst St.