Island Harvest Delivers Food to Phillips Avenue Elementary School

Photo courtesy of Riverhead Central School District

Allison Puglia and Jeremy Waite from the Island Harvest organization delivered food to the Phillips Avenue Elementary School in Flanders on Monday, just in time for Thanksgiving. The Island Harvest flagship van brought 530 pounds of food collected by the elementary students at Commack Indian Hollow Primary School to stock the shelves of the soon-to-be-established food pantry that will be housed in a former storage area adjacent to the stage in the Phillips Avenue cafetorium.

“This is a trial run – a first in Island Harvest’s history, “ explained Mr. Waite. “We provide food for approximately 316,000 people island-wide, but this is the first pantry in a school that we’ve helped stock.” Superintendent of Schools Nancy Carney stopped by to thank Island Harvest for their generosity and help in setting up this on-site food pantry.

“We’re still in the process of determining how the pantry will operate,” explained Phillips Avenue Principal Debra Rodgers, who has worked untiringly to meet the needs of her students, their families and the community that surrounds the school . . . The pantry is just another step in trying to meet the very real nutritional needs of our students and others in our school community. Having it on-site will make it easier for us to serve those needs,” concluded Ms. Rodgers.

Jean-Marie Mazzaferro’s class provided the muscle to move the boxes of food into the lobby of the school and she will oversee the survey to determine policies on how to best distribute the food.

In addition, the school will be hosting their Fourth Annual Thanksgiving Breakfast hosted by the teachers, staff, administration and Phillips Avenue PTO on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving in the school’s cafetorium.

“This annual breakfast is just one event,” shared Ms. Rodgers, “that helps reinforce the importance of community in the educational process, and is also the school’s way of thanking the Phillips Avenue community for their involvement. An on-site food pantry will be another way we can share the bounty of what we’ve all been given.”