PORTLAND, Texas — The Gregory Portland ISD Resource Center offers both a food pantry and clothing closet to help students and their families meet basic needs during challenging economic times.
"You get the pasta and you get the boxed meals and you get some meat and you get vegetables and you get fruits and you get breakfast," Tammy Childers said.
The GPISD food pantry has been operating for nearly a year, providing weekly service to district families, though each family is limited to one visit per month.
Childers has used the service three times and plans to return more frequently.
"I had a change in my income and so I had to start finding ways to help supplement my income and to make sure I can still feed my child because I have a teenager at home," Childers said.
Debbie Edge, a retired educator who volunteers at the Resource Center has noticed increasing demand for their services.
"I think there's a lot of food insecurity and it's also if you can get a few meals that are free then you can use those funds that you save towards something else that you might need like health care or maybe items, you know, school supplies, things that the kids need," Edge said.
According to Sharon Reaway, GPISD Director of Family and Community Engagement.
"We want the children to walk in prepared and feeling like they're gonna have success and not coming in hungry, not coming and worried about what they're gonna have for supper tonight and that kind of thing," Reckaway said.
Reckaway and her team of social workers coordinate both the food pantry and clothing closet operations.
"We have up to 3 families that can come in at a time slot and we do that every Wednesday and so when the clothing closet is open, the food pantry is open as well," Reaway said.
Due to limited spacing, families must reserve a spot to shop in the Food Pantry by going to Quick Links at the top of this page and selecting Event Tickets. No appointment needed to shop the Clothing Closet.
