Broadneck Peninsula Food Pantry Serves Festive Staples During The Holiday Season

Since 2021, the food pantry at Broadneck High School has been providing families with food, clothes, baby items, basic toiletries and a bit of festive cheer during the holiday season.

“It brings everyone together and helps people in need from one end of the peninsula to another,” said Cheryl Griswold, parent to two Broadneck High School students, who has volunteered at the pantry for two years.

The pantry holds one giveaway event per month but can provide additional support if needed.

“Families know they can contact me if they need anything in between,” said Allison Mathews, director of the Broadneck peninsula food pantry.

Along with the dry goods the pantry gets, fresh food is a priority for volunteers each month as they shop for butter, milk, fruits, vegetables and meat. They also do a blanket and comforter drive each year to help keep families warm throughout the winter months. Volunteers are also available to help customers load their cars, especially for heavier items.

The pantry has evolved over its three-year existence.

“We used to bring everything out of the pantry and set it up on the tables, and now we thought of a great idea of making our pantry almost like a little mini grocery store,” Mathews said. “We have all the shelves labeled, and they can just walk around and shop like they do at a normal grocery store.”

A team of Broadneck High School faculty members, including librarian Leslie Watson, assistant principal Melissa Pfisterer, financial secretary Jess Banachoski, special education department chair Jennifer Trout, English teacher Tara Segree and Broadneck High School social worker Lindsay Roszell, serve as the “pantry committee.” Once a month, they meet to make sure they’re prepared for each month’s event.

Anywhere from 30 to 40 people show up to these events. The only information that the pantry asks about its customers is their name, what school their children go to, and the number of people they are getting food for during their visit. According to that data, the pantry serves about 100 to 130 people per month from its events.

Each holiday season, the pantry holds two additional events to provide support to community members through a festive but difficult time of year.

“I think a lot of people just get by in large part throughout the rest of the year,” Griswold said. “But there’s something about the holidays where it just makes life a bit tougher financially and the holidays can be really hard emotionally for a lot of people. So, it’s good to wrap your arms around those that need it.”

For Thanksgiving, the pantry got 35 turkeys, including 25 turkeys from Green Valley Marketplace. Along with the turkeys, volunteers packaged other Thanksgiving staples, including pie and sweet potatoes to put into turkey boxes to give out just before Thanksgiving. Some teachers also made homemade desserts.

This year, the pantry received help for the Thanksgiving event from captains of the Broadneck High School athletic teams.

“They came and they packaged all the boxes for us with all the foods that needed to be in every box,” Mathews said. “Then they made cards that we put in every box and said, ‘Happy Thanksgiving.’”

Volunteers also hold an event for Christmas. At the regular October and November events, customers filled out paper mittens with gift ideas for their kids. They set up a tree in the Broadneck High School library with the mittens. Anyone in the school can sign up to sponsor a family.

Watson takes charge of organizing the gifts and puts them in boxes. Just before Christmas, the pantry will hold a pickup date for Christmas dinners and gifts.

Preparation for the extra holiday events starts months in advance and can be difficult but rewarding.

“It doubles our work for those months, but it's worth it to make sure that everyone gets a nice Thanksgiving dinner and the kids get gifts at Christmas,” Mathews said. “It's worth it to us.”