WJHS Newspaper Club Donates to Wells Food Pantry

Post date: Apr 09, 2014 8:37:18 PM

WELLS− The school Newspaper Club at Wells Junior High School recently donated $225 to the community food pantry at St. Mary’s Church in Wells. The money was raised by club members selling flowers to other students and staff for Valentine’s Day.

Receiving the donation on behalf of the pantry on April 1st was food pantry Director Elinor Grover. In the classroom of teacher Marilyn Zotos, Grover, who prefers to be called Ellie, posed for a photo with club members and advisers Zotos and teacher Julie Esch.

“I think it is wonderful,” said Grover about the student gift. “Although we get (donated) food, we have to buy a lot of stuff.” Some of the extra items that the pantry purchases include laundry and dish detergent, ketchup, mustard and mayonnaise.

“They really wanted to be able to provide some sort of philanthropic opportunity that they could be involved with…,” said Zotos about the young reporters’ desire to give something back to the local community. After some research, club members discovered that St Mary’s was an ideal choice for their gift as St. Mary’s food pantry is open to anyone in need.

Zotos indicated that students are made aware that schools and the operation of them are funded by community members. “Consequently it’s important for the students to acknowledge the community’s needs too. It is an important lesson for kids to understand that when you receive you need to be appreciative but you also need to find opportunities to give.”

Grover indicated that people of all ages visit the pantry. “There are a lot of elderly people that come and we have been getting a lot of younger people that have lost their jobs.”

According to Grover, the pantry has been in existence for over 20 years and is open to anyone in the community at large (parishioner of St. Mary’s or non-parishioner) every Thursday from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. Grover says those who are in need of food are welcome to visit the pantry a first time without any application. However, for a second visit, one must first visit Wells Town Hall to meet with the general assistance representative to prove income eligibility.

St. Mary’s Church is located at 236 Eldridge Road in Wells. They can be reached at 646-5605.

The WJHS school newspaper is called the WJHS Press and comes out once a trimester.

###

Photo/Reg Bennett

Caption: In the back row (from left to right): Channing Wang, Nolan Potter, Kyle Crothers, Elinor Grover, Megan Schneider, Olivia Durfee, Madison Szczygiel, and Paige Raymond. In the front row (l to r) Julie Esch, Christian Saulnier, and Marilyn Zotos