LJMS Food Pantry

Who we are:

Did you know that the Luther Jackson Middle School works with the LJMS Administration to run a food pantry in our school? During the school year, we hold open pantry hours every Wednesday where families in need can come and collect pre-packed bags of shelf stable pantry supplies and also “shop” a variety of produce, and other grocery items as they become available to the pantry. We support 35-40 families each week during pantry hours, and another 10-15 families through backpacks sent home with students in need.

There are several benefits to operating a pantry on school grounds:

Removing hunger removes a barrier to learning for our students.
Participating in the pantry helps families establish and foster a connection with the school. Together, we can encourage their student(s) to participate fully in the LJMS educational opportunity.
Students embrace the opportunity to do service work that benefits their community directly, and makes them feel a sense of purpose.
It’s a great opportunity for the entire school community to support one another.

How have we done this?

We collect food from multiple sources including:

Food for Neighbors (five Saturdays during the school year)
Large weekly donations from Target and the FreshFarm market at Mosaic, both facilitated by our partnership with Food Rescue US, DC.
Generous donations from community donors (Private foundations, churches, and individual PTA donors) allow us to purchase additional food from Capital Area Food Bank and area grocery stores.

Each one of these sources requires volunteers to collect and move large amounts of food into our pantry every week. If you would like to get involved, please email foodneeds@jacksonmspta.org.

It’s never too late to support the Food Pantry, and your food and financial donations will go directly to help our students and their families who face food insecurity. Here are 4 ways that you can support the food pantry: