Woodrow Community Peace Pantry provides meals and clothing for people in need
DALLAS - A steady stream of cars came to the Arboretum Village Shopping Center in East Dallas Friday afternoon to fill up a clear 14-foot truck with donations to help several Dallas ISD schools.
The idea for the food pantry in Woodrow Wilson High School began eight years.
A mom, Nancy Wilson, was talking with a teacher, when she discovered the need.
"She said, ‘these kids are hungry what can we do?’ I said 'why can't we have a pantry right here in the school'," said Wilson.
When the Woodrow Community Peace Pantry opened students came for help.
"We saw the students who needed it, their reactions, it blew up from there. Uniform donations, toiletries, showers," Wilson said.
Some students were concerned they wouldn't be able to get the food.
"When they come to you and say they can't fill out paperwork, they don't have an address. Our goal was to remove as many barriers as possible, so there is no paperwork whatsoever," Wilson added.
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A group of relators came together to help keep the pantries full.
"After COVID the pantries were empty," said Karen Hartman of the Live Local Group. "When one realtor shows up with a network, great things happen. When six show up with a great network, amazing things happen, because it is about telling your friends."
The food pantry is not just for students.
"Our teachers use it, parents, students. It is for the entire community," said Wilson.
The Peace Pantry was so successful at Woodrow they decided to feeder schools in the area.
An anonymous donor greatly helped with the expansion.
"He saw the news story and that's why he called the school and gives back," said Michelle Marketos of the Woodrow Community Peace Pantry. "It gave us shelves of initial food and uniforms."
Then the community takes ownership.
"A kid sitting next to you in math, they may go home open the pantry and not have food. Kids are like, wow, there are kids who don't have food," said Marketos. "It's good for kids to know not everyone has everything you have."
"It brought a school and community together in a way I have not seen before," said Wilson.
Saturday morning students will take all the donations and sort them for the different schools.
The Peace Pantry has a website where community members can make donations.