Valleyview Elementary School in Oneonta hosted a food drive this month to collect donations for St. Mary’s Food Pantry.
On the morning of Monday, Nov. 24, representatives from the food pantry, located at 26 Elm St., came to collect the 2,154 pantry items that were donated through the more than 200 kids in the school.
Gloria Krokos, the front door monitor at Valleyview, spearheaded the food drive at the school. For the past three weeks, students have been bringing in food to donate. She said Monday that a pizza party would be held for the winning class, but because so much food was brought in, she decided to award the two top classes for their vast contributions.
“The reason I started this is, when the government closed and people not getting their SNAP, and I said that can’t be,” Krokos said. “We need to help whoever we can, and this is what we did.”
At the start of November, federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, also known as food stamps, were expected to freeze amid the government shutdown, creating widespread uncertainty about the future of SNAP benefits.
Lauren Seward’s kindergarten class and Catherine Gorman’s special education class brought in the most pantry items, contributing 389 items and 300 items respectively. Krokos said she kept a list of teachers and would mark down which class each kid was from when they brought in food. Kindergarten, she added, brought in the most food out of all years, ranging up to fifth grade.
Students brought in nonperishable items to ensure nothing expired by the time it was sent to St. Mary’s, like canned goods, pastas, sauces, cereals and even toothbrushes, Krokos said. She added that students brought in the majority of donations with faculty and staff making some contributions as well.
While she was a safety officer in Yonkers for more than 20 years, Krokos said she organized a food drive annually. She said she has been at Valleyview for 13 years, but this is the first year she organized a food drive at the school. Krokos said during her years working downstate, she always held the food drive around Thanksgiving to support those in need during the holiday season.
For a small school, Krokos said she was amazed by how much food was brought in for donation.
Children supporting the food drive are “showing up for their community” and there are many people “who need the help,” Krokos said. The drive ensures children are aware that there are people in need of their support.
“In order for them to do something, they bring things in and help their community,” Krokos said. “They learn it at a young age, and it goes on for life. It is very important, extremely important, and I am so proud of Valleyview school for doing this. It’s unreal.”
Moving forward, Krokos said she plans to organize the food drive every year.
Mathias Mietzelfeld and Joshua Yax, pantry assistants at St. Mary’s Food Pantry, picked up the food from the school and loaded it into a truck. Mietzelfeld said it was a “tremendous donation,” and he is appreciative to the students and staff at the school for their support.
After working at St. Mary’s for about a year and a half, he said he has “never seen a food drive produce quite so much.” With the amount of food collected at the school, Mietzelfeld said the pantry would likely be able to forego its monthly order from the Regional Food Bank. This means the pantry will have additional resources to support the community.
Yax said he attended Valleyview himself as a kid.
“It’s awesome, it’s real special,” Yax said. “They did a good job.”
Recent developments with SNAP benefits, Mietzelfeld said, “serves to draw attention to how important it is for community members to always be stepping up.”
“We were amazed with all of the support we received during that period, and the holiday season also is another time when people’s finances, which are already tight, are taxed even more,” Mietzelfeld said. “It’s just wonderful to see, and we are very grateful.”