The opening of the Three Lakes FORK pantry at the end of January marked the seventh location for FORK pantries.
The pantry looks like a bookcase with glass doors, its shelves filled with food.
It’s available for parents or guardians to grab food from. Teachers can also grab something when they have a student they believe needs something during the school day.
“Teachers for decades have been providing resources to their students that they are not able to afford. Those meals and those school supplies, all those types of things, have always come out of the teachers’ pockets,” said Perry Pokrandt, FORK President. “We didn’t want that anymore. We don’t think that’s right. Teachers are not the highest paid professionals and as such shouldn’t be feeding the kids in the community. It’s the community’s responsibility.”
This pantry was built by Three Lakes High School students in the furniture and cabinet making class.
There are no eligibility requirements.
“We have kind of a motto with our FORK pantries: ‘Take what you need. Give what you can.’ We do have collection baskets there are the pantry specifically. If you’re at the grocery store and they have macaroni and cheese on sale and you want to pick up a couple boxes to drop off at the school, we welcome that kind of a contribution,” said Pokrandt.
FORK also accepts monetary donations.
Pokrandt says it’s not designed to replace the Three Lakes Christian Food Pantry.
“Food insecurity isn’t something people plan. It comes up out of the blue. It doesn’t just happen on Saturdays, every other Saturday when the Three Lakes food pantry is open, which they do a great job. But the limit of any food pantry is there are only so many hours they can be open,” he said.
The FORK Pantry will be open anytime the school is open.
FORK is also planning on putting a pantry at the Sugar Camp school in the near future.
