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Home > Penny Harvest Students “Reach Out” to Save Local Food Pantry
PENNY HARVEST STUDENTS “REACH OUT” TO SAVE LOCAL FOOD PANTRY
August 21, 2008
Six months ago, Thomas Neve was faced with a tough decision. Demand for Reaching Out Community Services, the food pantry he runs in Brooklyn, was at an all time high and their current location was getting cramped. He would either have to start turning people away or invest in a larger space. For an organization solely dependent on donations, this wasn’t an easy choice. But turning away clients wasn’t an option, so Thomas moved the Reaching Out facility and hoped for the best.
Around the same time, tough decisions of another sort were being made by thousands of Penny Harvesters across NYC. Students were beginning their grant-making process and were actively researching community needs and indentifying the organizations they might want to support.
Twelve particular Penny Harvest schools in Brooklyn were narrowing in on families in need as something they wanted to address, and through their research found out about Reaching Out Community Services. Students were compelled by Reaching Out because they let their clients “shop” for the food they needed, as opposed to simply handing them a bag of pre-sorted food items, and were impressed by the fact that this pantry serves over 1800 people every month. The young grant makers from these twelve schools picked up the phone to learn more…
…and the voice at the other end of that call happened to be Thomas Neve. Thomas realized the importance of sharing his organization’s mission with these students. How else would they learn about the issues facing the working poor or the unemployed? And how else would they know that they too could help?
Throughout the spring, Thomas met with various school groups. He invited students to visit the food pantry, and visited schools to speak with students directly. All the while, of course, he was fighting to keep Reaching Out’s doors open and their shelves stocked with food.
By the time May rolled around, Thomas was in a bind. Their new location meant they were serving even more people, but it also meant that their expenses tripled. He wasn’t sure he was going to be able to keep his doors open over the summer; there simply was no funding left. And here’s where a miracle of sorts happened.
Those students, from the twelve Brooklyn schools that Thomas visited, listened. One by one, Penny Harvest checks came through his door: PS 112 gave $200, PS 180 gave $500, PS 225 gave $250, PS 48 gave $1,000, and so on and so on. And their grants added up! All told, Penny Harvest students donated $5,150 to Reaching Out, helping it keep its doors open all summer.
Once again, students in the Penny Harvest provided critical help to those in need. The program enables hundreds more grant stories like this one, where children in individual Penny Harvest schools work together to find, and impact, community needs that adults, foundations and corporations sometimes cannot. These children are integral to solving community problems large and small, and along the way, they are learning lessons that will last them a lifetime.
Six months ago, Thomas Neve was faced with a tough decision. Demand for Reaching Out Community Services, the food pantry he runs in Brooklyn, was at an all time high and their current location was getting cramped. He would either have to start turning people away or invest in a larger space. For an organization solely dependent on donations, this wasn’t an easy choice. But turning away clients wasn’t an option, so Thomas moved the Reaching Out facility and hoped for the best.
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Throughout the spring, Thomas met with various school groups. He invited students to visit the food pantry, and visited schools to speak with students directly. All the while, of course, he was fighting to keep Reaching Out’s doors open and their shelves stocked with food. 
Once again, students in the Penny Harvest provided critical help to those in need. The program enables hundreds more grant stories like this one, where children in individual Penny Harvest schools work together to find, and impact, community needs that adults, foundations and corporations sometimes cannot. These children are integral to solving community problems large and small, and along the way, they are learning lessons that will last them a lifetime.