Second graders Winn Baswell, left, J'micah Malone, seated, and Linsley Gillman stand before the new community food pantry at HEART Academy at Julian Newman Elementary School in Athens. HEART students helped create the pantry for anyone in the neighborhood needing food.

By Jean Cole

Most children have a sense of wanting to help others. All they need is someone to tell them how they can help.

Monica Daws, instructional partner at HEART Academy at Julian Newman Elementary School in Athens, recently did that for students at the school. She applied for an Alabama Bicentennial Community and County Grant and received enough money to build and stock a food pantry at the south end of the school. Students in the second and third grades helped with the project, along with some local parents.

“It’s about spreading a little joy and kindness in our community,” Daws said of the project.

The small, wooden stand — called The HEART Food Pantry — bears as slogan on its front door: “Take what you need, leave what you can,” a message Daws said she found on social media.

“We wanted to tie it back to our HEART theme, which is community outreach,” she said.

The pantry, which officially opened Monday, is open during school hours.

“All you have to do is just walk up and get what you need,” Daws said.

Although the children designed it to help the neighborhood, Daws said there are no rules, so it is open to anybody who needs help.

Students at the school will be in charge of checking and restocking the pantry as needed, she said. Food donations will likely come from the students and their families, though anyone in the community who wishes to donate can do so.

Daws said the students who helped create the pantry have learned some people have difficult times and just need a little help.

“I think the whole idea resonates with that age,” she said.

The lightbulb

She got the idea for the food pantry from a video she saw online. In the video, children from another state erected a food pantry in their front yard.

Daws originally submitted a grant application for a health fair. It would offer blood pressure and other tests to the community with help from Athens-Limestone Hospital. She received an honorable mention grant of $500. Although she was very happy to receive the gift, it wasn’t enough to fund the health fair.

So, she asked to resubmit an application with the food pantry in mind and was awarded enough money to do that project.

To learn more about the pantry, including a video of the children launching it, visit HEART Academy on Facebook or Twitter.