November 21, 2022 – Families in need will have one less thing to worry about this holiday season thanks to care packages provided by Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools and its community partners as part of the We’re All in This Together initiative.
Food insecurity affects thousands of students throughout North Carolina, and Winston-Salem is no different. There are many children who are only guaranteed a hot meal when they have it at school. We’re All in This Together is an effort that started in WS/FCS last year to provide as many of those students as possible with food to bring home over Thanksgiving Break. That way, they and their families can enjoy their time off without having to worry about where their next meal will come from.
“This is just one extra way for us to show our families how much we care,” said Chartwells District Manager Alicia Crews. “We want to make sure none of our students go hungry over break.”
Over 400 families benefitted from this year’s distribution. The packages they received included not only shelf-stable produce, meat, grains, and snacks to get families through the week, but also informational materials for community resource centers, books to read, and fun activities to play with. Bookmarks Marketing Manager Juliana Reyes says that getting children to invest in their own education requires making sure that their needs beyond the classroom are met – they can’t be well-read until they’re also well-fed.
“You can’t have that energy that you need to enjoy reading if you aren’t fueled,” Reyes said. “Making sure that kids are getting enough to eat is important for nurturing and educating the whole child.”
The success of this year’s iteration of We’re All in This Together depended on a full buy-in from WS/FCS and its community partners. Bookmarks, Crisis Control Ministries, Food Lion Feeds, Forsyth Backpack Program, Second Harvest Food Bank, and more were all instrumental in both providing the supplies to go in the packages and sending volunteers to pack and move them. Volunteer Coordinator Terry Matthews said it was heartwarming to see how many people were committed to making this Thanksgiving a happier time for their neighbors. That loving community spirit is among the biggest things that the district has to be thankful for this year.
“All we had to do was make a few phone calls and everyone jumped into action,” Matthews said. “We have so many people in the community who contributed to this effort… it’s the greatest feeling in the world.”
