NHS fills rampant community food pantry
Energy bars, trail mix, chips, drinks, and take-home meals. These items, and more, are now available for students to pick up at Rose’s new food pantry starting March 9, 2026, in room 118.
Every year National Honor Society (NHS) offers students a chance to write a service grant and be awarded up to $1,000 for any type of community service project they come up with. This year, juniors Stella Van Liere and Marley Jacobson took this opportunity to create a food pantry they believed would make a difference.
“I wanted to make an impact that was actually going to be sustainable,” Van Liere said.
When Van Liere and Jacobson began considering a food pantry for a grant project, they discovered that NHS advisor Angie Byrne had been thinking about starting a similar initiative.
.jpeg)
photo by Riley brown
“I talked to Mrs. Byrne when I first joined National Honor Society, and she told me that it was an idea that she originally had, so she gave it to us and let us do whatever we wanted with it,” Van Liere said.
Byrne believes the school could benefit from a project designed specifically for Rose students' needsthat the school could benefit from a project designed specifically for the needs of Rose students.
“I feel like so many organizations at the school do some sort of food drive to serve the greater community, but sometimes it’s important to serve the people under your roof,” Byrne said.
The students were informed that their grant had not received any funding, but that, withdid not receive any funding, but through NHS and student donations, their project could still move forward. NHS used saved funds to purchase the cabinet, and through different clubs and honor societies, students can donate food and drinks to stock the pantry.
Byrne and the organizers are looking ahead to keeporganizers are looking ahead in hopes of keeping the pantry active and accessible throughout the year. Plans are underway to involve different clubs and set responsibilities to keep it running.
“Starting next year, the goal is to have a monthly sign-up for what organization is in charge of maintaining stock per month,” Byrne said.
Van Liere and Jacobson believe that this project should be sustainable and want it to outlive them once they graduate.
“We would like to have somebody to continue it after we’re finished, and we’re potentially looking for a way to try and expand it beyond our school,” Jacobson said.
Despite not receiving grant fundingfacing the challenge of not receiving grant money, the students continued working to move their project forward. Jacobson hopes that other students creating service projects will stay focused on their goals and be prepared to face obstacles along the way.
“Just be persistent and don’t get down when you may not get what you expected,” Jacobson said.