{"id":26405,"date":"2022-08-16T09:25:32","date_gmt":"2022-08-16T13:25:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/?p=26405"},"modified":"2022-08-16T09:25:37","modified_gmt":"2022-08-16T13:25:37","slug":"dasd-battles-food-insecurity-with-buddy-boxes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/?p=26405","title":{"rendered":"DASD battles food insecurity with ‘Buddy Boxes’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Community Food Box at East Ward Elementary School provides nonperishable food items and toiletries donated by members of the community.<\/p><\/div>\n

Downingtown Area School District (DASD) recently partnered with It Takes A Village Community (ITAVC) of Chester County to <\/span>help combat food insecurity within the DASD community. \u00a0Community food boxes have been installed at Beaver Creek Elementary School (601 West Pennsylvania Avenue, Downingtown) and East Ward Elementary School (435 Washington Avenue, Downingtown).<\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Known in DASD as \u201cBuddy Boxes,\u201d these outdoor pantries contain nonperishable food items and toiletries donated by members of the community. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe mini food pantries at East Ward and Beaver Creek Elementary Schools provide residents of the Borough of Downingtown round-the-clock access to non-perishable food staples such as pasta, canned goods, as well as some personal care items, for free,\u201d East Ward Principal Dr. Nick Argonish said.<\/p>\n

The \u201cBuddy Boxes\u201d will remain unlocked at all times and community members are invited to donate or take items at any time, for any reason.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Food Box program has been a beautiful experiment in paying it forward that\u2019s proved more successful than we ever imagined,\u201d ITAVC Executive Director Jennifer Smialowicz said. \u201cWe\u2019ve heard countless stories of how the boxes helped families get through a difficult month or two when they had a few extra bills, and they come back later to stock the box for the next family in their shoes.\u201d\u00a0 <\/p>\n

The \u201cBuddy Boxes\u201d are part of several initiatives planned for next school year that will address food insecurity within the district. In the fall, students will decorate the boxes as part of these ongoing efforts.<\/p>\n

\u201cFood insecurity, which is more pervasive than some people might think, can be temporary or long-term and we\u2019re happy to partner with It Takes a Village to provide this resource to our families,\u201d Beaver Creek Elementary School Principal Dr. Dawn Lawless said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The \u201cBuddy Boxes\u201d at Beaver Creek Elementary and East Ward Elementary Schools were built by Henry Blankmeyer from Boy Scout Troop 23, a 2022 graduate of Downingtown High School East who plans to attend Penn State University in the fall.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI hope that the boxes\u00a0help many people and last the tests of time, while also giving\u00a0others an easy opportunity to help their neighbors,\u201d Blankmeyer noted.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI am excited and grateful for the DEI partnership with ITAVC,\u201d commented DASD Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Director Justin Brown. \u201cAccess to safe, nutritious and sufficient food is a basic human right and one that helps set our students up for success. Food security is linked to economic stability and long-term health and we must make sure we take care of everyone within our \u2018good neighbor\u2019 district.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Additional community food boxes are available throughout the community. To learn more about the boxes, visit www.ittakesavillagecc.org\/food-boxes.html<\/a>. To learn more about how DEI work in DASD, visit www.dasd.org\/diversity<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Downingtown Area School District (DASD) recently partnered with It Takes A Village Community (ITAVC) of Chester County to help combat food insecurity within the DASD community. \u00a0Community food boxes have been installed at Beaver Creek Elementary School (601 West Pennsylvania Avenue, Downingtown) and East Ward Elementary School (435 Washington Avenue, Downingtown).\u00a0 \u00a0 Known in DASD […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26404,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[10625,598,3162,8481,10624],"class_list":["post-26405","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-buddy-boxes","tag-downingtown-area-school-district","tag-featured","tag-food-insecurity","tag-it-takes-a-village-community"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26405","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=26405"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26405\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26406,"href":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26405\/revisions\/26406"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/26404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26405"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}