Erase The Need Center Feeds WJCC's Neediest Children

By Amber Lester Kennedy Wednesday, November 17, 2010

 

In a nondescript building tucked behind Sentara Williamsburg Regional Medical Center, Pam Frazier and a team of volunteers ensure they feed as many children in Williamsburg and James City County as possible.

It isn’t the most glamorous location, but Frazier calls her new digs a “blessing.” As Title I Parent Outreach Facilitator for WJCC schools, Frazier coordinates efforts to give necessities – food, hygiene products, school supplies – to the neediest students in the area. Last year, she operated a food donation program out of a supply closet at Warhill High School; when the supply overflowed, she took extra donations home.

Sentara had an extra warehouse that originally served as headquarters for the construction crews when the hospital campus was built. Don West, director of support operations, and Jaime Sanderson, director of the emergency department family maternity center, both happened to watch a television segment about food supplied to homeless students through backpacks. Both wondered if something like that was happening in WJCC schools, and found that Frazier had started the Food for Kids program in the 2009-2010 school year.

At a dedication ceremony on Tuesday, Sentara Williamsburg’s Vice President Bob Graves remembered how West and Sanderson came to him with the suggestion to donate the warehouse space to WJCC Schools so that Frazier would have sufficient space to store food and supplies. He agreed, and Frazier started moving into the space in June. In addition, the hospital’s food supplier, Sodexo, donated $5,000 to the program.

“It’s a really big step in a very powerful direction to helping children in our community,” said James Nickols, chair of the WJCC School Board, on Tuesday. “It’s hard to learn when you’re hungry.”

The warehouse, now dubbed the “Erase the Need” center, now serves three separate programs: Stop and Read, Food 4 Kids and Feed the Children. Stop and Read sets up reading stations at high-traffic locations, such as the Department of Motor Vehicles, where children can read books while their parents wait, and then take the books home.

Food 4 Kids Backpack Program is a worldwide organization that partners with other nonprofits around the world. Frazier started the WJCC Food 4 Kids program last year in collaboration with the Food Bank of the Virginia Peninsula. Using food donated to the Food Bank, Frazier and volunteers stuff about 250 backpacks weekly to be delivered to children on Fridays. The recipients must attend one of WJCC’s five elementary schools receiving Title I funding because of a high population of students who qualify for free and reduced meals.

Each backpack includes enough food to potentially feed a family, and parents are encouraged to pick out foods the child would like to eat. Frazier has a refrigerator to store perishable foods, as well, and hopes someone will donate a freezer.

 

With more space to store food, Frazier was able to apply for other Title I programs. The Feed the Children Organization chose WJCC as the only school division in the state to receive a donation of about 2,000 backpacks filled with snacks, hygiene items and school supplies. Frazier has reached out to surrounding school divisions to share the backpacks, and estimates she’s already given away 1,100 to Newport News, Poquoson, York and Gloucester schools.

In addition, Williamsburg United Methodist Church donated $900 to WJCC through an account at the Food Bank to use for disadvantaged students and their families. Frazier says families can receive food from the Erase the Need Center through referrals from the schools, United Way, the Grove Christian Outreach Center and churches.

When Frazier moved in, she was also matched with a ready and willing volunteer force. The Erase the Need Center shares its space with the Williamsburg Youth Harp Society. Director Jennifer Tierney said the parents of students have made it a weekly ritual to pack the backpacks, sometimes bringing the whole family to help. “It’s eye-opening for children,” she said Tuesday. “When kids realize a child has to live on that food for the weekend, and that they can’t choose what they want, they’re really surprised.”

Both Tierney and Frazier say Williamsburg is unique in that its homeless population is relatively hidden. Frazier said many of the homeless families are “doubled-up,” living with other families who took them in when they lost their homes. Others live in motels or their cars.

Frazier knows the feeling. Twenty years ago, she became homeless after falling behind on bills. She struggled for some time to get even the basic necessities, but eventually fought her way back, gaining employment with the organizations that helped her and earning degrees from Thomas Nelson Community College and Christopher Newport University.

It’s that experience that inspired her to help other people struggling, like mother Allea Gundrum, of Williamsburg. Gundrum, a single mother of three children, was briefly forced to live in the hotel where she works. Her schedule often involves working nights and weekends, so the backpacks stuffed with food provided her children with snacks when she couldn’t be there to cook for them.

She was so grateful for the help that she volunteered this year to stuff and deliver 55 backpacks to Matthew Whaley Elementary every week. “It’s been a big struggle since we moved to Williamsburg, but the backpack program has been very helpful,” she said. “I wanted to help, too.”

To donate food, books, school supplies, hygiene products and/or clothing to the Erase the Need Center, contact Frazier at (757) 903-1394.