Lakeland Students, Staff Volunteer To Feed Community

MOHEGAN LAKE, NY — Members of the Lakeland Central School District community have been helping to feed families in need for years, first through backpacks full of food sent home with students on the weekends, and then through a mobile food pantry parked at George Washington Elementary School.

The food distribution effort, organized by social workers in the district and carried out by staff, parent and student volunteers, has never been more necessary since the coronavirus pandemic hit last year and the need for food skyrocketed, school officials said.

The volunteers who distribute the food were accustomed to serving about 50 to 60 families at a time. However, since March 2020, they began to regularly see 350 families at the monthly event.

The food pantry switched to a drive-through model and moved to the Jefferson Valley Mall back parking lot in April of last year. It now serves about 200 families at once, usually on the first Wednesday of the month.

Beth Luft, the social worker at Benjamin Franklin Elementary School who organizes the mobile pantry, said the pandemic affected a lot of families in the area that the school didn’t even know would be in need.

“We were hearing from people who had never reached out for help before,” she said.

There are about 20 to 25 regular volunteers, 15 adults and five to 10 students. Teachers, principals and administrators, including superintendent Dr. Brendan Lyons, have also joined the effort. The district’s Buildings and Grounds Department helps out as well.

“Whether you are wearing a suit to work or sneakers, everybody is there to help,” Luft said. “It’s great for our students to see everybody pitching in.”

Student volunteers may unpack the boxes of food that arrive on a huge truck from the organization Feeding Westchester and repack it into boxes for individual families. They also may break down the empty boxes or count cars.

Walter Panas High School senior Brigid Muller, a volunteer since December, said the experience helped her realize the heavy toll the pandemic had taken on so many families.

“It wasn’t on the forefront of my mind that people had to rely on this food," she said, "so it just became a big realization and a shock to me almost that all these people were going through such a difficult time.”

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