Odd Fellows donate $5,000 to Harvest Bounty

The program ensures that Charleroi Area School District students have enough food.

The Charleroi Independent Order of Odd Fellows #1030 made a $5,000 donation to Harvest Bounty in Charleroi Thursday evening at First Christian Church.

Harvest Bounty is a weekend food program through the Charleroi Area School District for students in grades K-8 and sometimes high school students.

Around for 11 years, it is designed to help ensure students have nutritious food that prepares them to be academically successful. It started when there was a welfare check done on a home and they only had ketchup and rice inside.

It is also teacher driven, according to Kathy Franks, a recently retired reading specialist who helps organize the program along with Becky Spiker and about 10 teachers throughout the year.

Franks said they had to do something because 60% of the district’s elementary students come from economically disadvantaged homes. They send home 240 bags a week.

“So those kids rely on the school breakfast and the school lunch. Because of that, on the weekends, there’s a big gap,” Franks said. “They don’t have that breakfast and they don’t have that lunch. Whatever is going on at home, we can’t fix that, but we can certainly send them home with a little bag of food every weekend to help stand in that gap. And that’s our goal.”

Around 20 higher-level life skills students in the district, with the help of their teacher, pack bags of food every week containing shelf-stable foods like small peanut butter, two servings of fruit, cereals, microwavable foods and more. Franks said it is usually two breakfasts, two lunches and a couple of snacks/ fruits.

Under the direction of teachers, around eight younger life skills kids pass out the bags to students, who put the bags in their backpacks. Last year, they sent home more than 7,500 bags of food — going out almost every single weekend, with bigger bags distributed for long breaks.

Odd Fellows member Bob Grant said this program is a “win-win situation” for students who receive the food and life skills kids who pack the bags.

“Even though we’re providing food, we’re also providing the life skills kids some really neat opportunities to do things they need to be able to do,” Franks said. “We have fundraisers, the biggest one being a vendor show in the spring, but that doesn’t bring in what we need. We need $35,000 a year to keep the program going.”

Parents have to allow the student to come home with the food, according to Franks, and they have to wait for a list of those that need help.

They also try to send home a big bag at the end of the year, and some families ask for help over the summer months. They usually order their food from Sam’s Club and other organizations, and have not had problems getting the bags home so the students can eat.

Franks added that they are incredibly grateful for the donations they get and the money they received from the Odd Fellows, which tries to give out money to charities that promote personal and social development. Members in Charleroi come from all over.

President Jim Howells told the Mon Valley Independent in May they support five to six fire companies, Charleroi Area Public Library, city missions, programs like Harvest Bounty and more.

The group learned about Harvest Bounty through member and bus driver William Palmer, who said Franks is outstanding, and late member Keith Quinn.

“We donated to them before, but we really didn’t know the whole story,” member George Hogan said. “It’s important to think of these things so people can understand because a lot of stuff goes unknown. It’s a lot of work besides those who are teachers who have another responsibility.”

Grant asked what happens when a recipient is embarrassed, which Franks said tends to happen around fifth grade, so they try to sly about handing out bags for some students.

Hogan said that while they are a small group, they are trying to do as much as they can for those who need it.

“The donation is just huge for us because we will use all the energy we have to do a bake sale at a football game and get $500. We aren’t laughing at that $500, we’re very thankful for that $500, but there’s a lot of energy and effort into getting that $500. This donation just means the world to us.”