The opening of a food pantry and resource center at Dr. Martin Luther King Junior Middle School in Trenton for students and their families was celebrated Friday. The pantry is in partnership with Mercer Street Friends.
“Mercer Street Friends has been able to provide access to counseling services, critical attendance initiatives for our students and parents, and provide food for all of our students so they wouldn’t go hungry,” said school principal Victor Farnath.
“This is what we do. We try to remove barriers to learning so that the wonderful staff leadership and teachers right here at MLK can do their jobs and teach our children,” said Mercer Street Friends CEO Bernie Flynn.
The school-based pantry is the second in Trenton. The first opened at Gregory Elementary in September. Mercer Street Friends is planning to open a third pantry early next year, to be available for both students and the entire community.
“This is a start of great work that has been in the making,” said Hope Grant, assistant superintendent. “And we’re hoping to continue it, but we as a community need to be collaborative to make sure that there is never a child in the city of Trenton that needs to utter the words ‘I’m hungry.’”
