Food for thought: CCVI home to permanent food pantry

In the spring of 2022, as we began to plan for this school year, we were looking at forging new community partnerships that would provide resources to our families. When discussing the most essential needs that are currently hurdles for our families, it became clear that CCVI had the chance to do something we’ve never done before that would make a meaningful difference in the lives of our students. CCVI opened a food pantry.

Thanks to a relationship with Harvesters Food Pantry, CCVI is now home to a permanent food pantry that is located at the Children’s Center Campus.

Harvesters began in the 1970s as food bank to stop unused food from being sent to landfills. They continued to grow and now provide over 200 agencies with items every year. Alex Olson, the Director of Education and Vision Services, along with the help of Connor Uptegrove, Marketing and Communications Manager, and Michelle Tovar, a teacher of the visually impaired, worked to get the applications filled out, contracts signed, and trainings completed and all three members hosted Harvesters representatives onsite to tour the space.

The first week of the 2022-2023 school year, CCVI was able to open its Food Pantry doors to all families and staff members for the organization. In the first month alone, we provided meals to over 15 families and staff members as well as subsidized snacks for all of our students in the on-site programming. The addition has been welcomed by families and provides a much-needed reduction of stress when it comes to their next meal. So far, the pantry has been stocked with canned items, pasta, vegetables, canned fruit, peanut butter, breads, crackers and chips as well as cold stored items like porkchops and lunchables.

This is just one example of how community partnerships have enhanced programming and differentiated CCVI from other education providers available to children with visual impairments in the Kansas City area. Resources like this allow our reach to extend beyond the classroom and into the home.