From left: THS guidance counselor Lauren Hanley, PTSA President Cheri Pegues, Guidance Department chair Simon Briggs, Towson Presbyterian Church Food for Thought Committee Chairs Deborah Ford (also a THS parent) and Kate Buchanan.
Towson High School is starting a new program that gives students in need food to take home on Fridays to ensure they don’t spend the weekend hungry.
School administrators and the PTSA are partnering with Towson Presbyterian Church to provide bags of nutritious food for students in need to take home for the weekends during the school year. Towson High is the second Baltimore County high school to have the program, called Food for Thought; Loch Raven High also has it.
“Food for Thought is a vital program because it deals with one of the basic necessities of life for these children — food, shelter, clothing,” said PTSA president Cheri Pegues, who spearheaded the program at Towson High. “If students come to school hungry, how can we expect them to succeed academically? If students are going all weekend without nutritious food, it will certainly affect every aspect of their lives. This is one small step we can take to assure that a basic need is being met.”
The school will be working with the group Food for Thought Baltimore County, a network of churches that work to fight hunger, to make the program happen.
“Most people are shocked to learn that there is such desperate need in the Towson area and north on the York Road corridor,” said Monica Butta, of Food for Thought Baltimore County. “There are approximately 50,000 students receiving free and reduced meals in BCPS, close to 3,000 of them are also classified as homeless.”
The Towson Presbyterian Church Food for Thought committee chairs are Kate Buchanan, Barbara Plunkett, and Deborah Ford, who is also the parent of a Towson High student.
Towson Presbyterian will be sponsoring eight students, PTSA, Music Boosters, and Sports Boosters will each sponsor one student. More donor families are being sought; anyone interested can contact Pegues at cheri007@comcast.net.
Kudos to Cheri Pegues for her advocacy on behalf of hungry students at Towson High School. We desperately need the school system and the local government to address the widespread effects of poverty and hunger affecting education – nearly 47% of all students in Baltimore County public schools live in poverty. According to information posted on the BCPS website, Towson High School has 240 students living in poverty, or 16.2% of the population there. Of those students, 210 receive free meals in school, meaning that their family incomes are no more than 130% of the federal poverty level, which for a family of three is about $26,000 a year. According to information I received after filing a Freedom of Information Act request, ten students were identified as homeless at Towson High School last year. At Loch Raven High School nearby, 286 students lived in poverty last year, and 24 were identified as homeless. These numbers are undoubtedly higher, as homelessness is something that many high school students will not discuss. I am involved with Food for Thought at Loch Raven High School, and this wonderful program is again feeding students there at risk of hunger on the weekends this year. I’ve also started the Loch Raven Network at Loch Raven High School to assist students in dire need. The support from the school staff, and the response from the surrounding community, including some churches, has been tremendous. I’m following Cheri’s lead in the article above: if you would like information… Read more »
Thank you, Laurie! You were certainly a huge inspiration to me in bringing this program to Towson High. Together we can raise awareness and tackle these issues!
You’re welcome Cheri – it’s wonderful how you have engaged so many groups at the school. Let’s keep in touch about what works…