By Keith Morelli
Tampa Tribune
TAMPA — Katherine Rodriguez and Colby Smith knelt down in front of the cabinet in Room 523 on the second floor of Smith Middle School in Citrus Park, arranging shampoo and body wash in neat rows.
Overseeing the work of the two eighth-graders was Hillsborough County sheriff’s school resource Deputy Charity Arthur, who is leading the charge to establish a food bank in a school that has an unusually high number of students whose families are below the poverty level.
About 20 students, screened by Arthur, who come from families that are just getting by, can claim some of the food, clothes and hygiene products either donated by more well-to-do parents or purchased by Arthur.
“I started this in August; it was a grass-roots thing I ran out of my office,” she said, as she helped arrange boxes of cereal and pasta donated by the school solely for this use.
Cabinets were packed with canned goods, such as Bush’s baked beans, Campbell’s soups and Del Monte green beans. There were boxes of Stove Top stuffing and pasta. Cereal boxes were crammed onto the top shelf.
“When you’re feeding 20 students and their families, it goes out faster than it comes in,” Arthur said.
The food bank is a first for Hillsborough County schools and it’s an idea Arthur hopes will be self-sustaining.
Right now, she and a few members of the Parent-Teacher-Student Association and other parents are buying food and hygiene products and donating clothes.
The 33-year-old deputy has been helping needy students since she arrived at the school in 2013, when she spotted kids who were troubled by something in their home lives.
She has heard stories about students going hungry at home, shivering on cold nights because there was no heat or having asthma attacks because their families could not afford an inhaler.
A Tampa native who came from a poor family, Arthur said she recognizes all the symptoms of poverty. Her father was unemployed the whole time she was in high school, Arthur said.
The result of that upbringing is a first-hand knowledge of what it’s like to get one good meal a day, the one served at the school cafeteria.
At first, Arthur began to open her bank account to help some students, the ones who would never ask for anything themselves. She would use coupons to buy extra things at the grocery store.
“My husband and I don’t need six bottles of ketchup, so I bring them in here,” she said.
She’s hoping to get the room fully stocked by spring break, which begins March 14.
“I’d like to send every one of my kids home with a box of food for spring break,” she said. If parents can’t come by to pick up the box, she has offered to drive it to their house.
She figured she has laid out more than $1,000 of her own money over the past couple of years, including paying part of the funeral cost for the mother of a student.
“I’m not rich, but I’m blessed,” she said. “Spread the wealth.”
About 15 months ago, Arthur opened up an account at GoFundMe.com that has raised $5,500 from 125 people, so she doesn’t have to dip into her own checking account as much.
She said the kids on the receiving end appreciate it and many help when called upon.
“It’s fun,” said Smith, 14, of Town ’N Country. “It’s cool to get out of class, but it’s nice to help other people out.”
“That’s why we do the things we do,” Arthur said.
Principal JoAnn Johnson is fully behind the project.
“It’s a place where our children can get what they need, what they may not be getting at home,” she said.
“It’s hard to go to a place you’re not familiar with and ask for something,” Johnson said. “Some say a school isn’t a place for this, but if we can help the community, we’re going to do it. The kids who are helping with this are proud of it. They are good kids. I’m so proud of them.”
Though Smith Middle School has a high number of poor students, some parents are among the most giving.
Just before Thanksgiving, a group of parents bought enough turkeys for all the kids being assisted by the food bank.
Arthur’s push to stock the bank is backed not only by the school, but by the deputies and civilian staff in the sheriff’s District 3 office in Citrus Park.
“A lot of people there live below the poverty level and it’s phenomenal to have a deputy who takes such an interest with those children,” said sheriff’s Maj. Chad Chronister, commander of District 3.
Arthur went to Chronister with the food bank idea in August, seeking support.
“We thought it was a wonderful idea,” Chronister said. “We’re excited to get behind it. If it betters the lives of children and improves the lives in our community, count us in.”
Not only does the food bank ease suffering of the needy, he said, “it also strengthens our ties with the community.”
“It all falls in line.”
Copyright 2016 the Tampa Tribune