photo by: Photo provided by Marshall County Schools
Several employees from Williams Energy volunteer their time to load dozens of boxes and hundreds of pounds of food from drop-off locations to Moundsville Middle School
More than 1,000 pounds of food were brought from Mountaineer Food Bank drop-off locations to Moundsville Middle School on Thursday morning, thanks to a donation of time, labor and transportation from Williams Energy.
The Williams employees shuttled dozens and dozens of food boxes to MMS as part of a monthly program with Mountaineer Food Bank, through which many families benefit weekly from care packages of prepared food. On Thursday, Williams workers shuttled the large quantities of food from the plaza near Busy Beaver. Teacher Suzanne Muncy said 50 families receive the food bags, and that students can come and grab snacks every day.
The program is funded by the Niekamp Foundation, as well as through grants written by Muncy herself, she said. Prior to Williams’ stepping in, Muncy said, she did the work personally, buying food from local grocery stores, but with Williams’ help, which began six years ago, the operation has grown by leaps and bounds.
“I used to do this all, going to Kroger in my car, but there’s no way,” she said, gesturing to the large stacks of boxes filling the classroom, hallway, and nearby closet, each packed with food. “Williams is the muscle, they do all the leg work for me, they bring the flatbed trucks and the labor and the volunteers to get it from the parking lot to our school.
“It’s in rain or snow — today was beautiful — and we’ve done it in every kind of weather, where it’s been awful,” she added. “They have provided hoodies and hams at Christmas, they do whatever they can to help.”
With the funding coming from Niekamp and the other grants Muncy applies for, as well as other local donations, students’ families and the school don’t foot the bill for the program, which sends packages home weekly. Moundsville Middle School and Cameron High School are the only schools in the county system which participate, but Mountaineer maintains a mobile food pantry at the Moundsville Four Seasons Pool.
Thursday’s bounty was great enough to send some items home with every child in the school.
“Every kid that wants a pack of pepperoni and some chocolate chips will get it today,” she said. “… The kids don’t have to pay a penny for the food.”
