Making Change

It’s a Thursday afternoon in Reston, Virginia, and the sidewalk in front of South Lakes High School is bustling with volunteers packing groceries into paper bags. They’re getting ready for the South Lakes PTSA Food Pantry weekly curbside pickup.
 
“Every Thursday is like a ‘blow your socks off’ kind of day,” said Roberta Gosling, one of the pantry’s co-founders.
 
She leads MainStreet Bank’s Jeff Day, AVP, Credit Underwriting Manager, past the collection of groceries, toilet paper, and bouquets of fresh flowers waiting to be picked up and into the school, where a volunteer is re-stocking the food pantry’s shelves.
 
“Just 35 minutes ago, these shelves were all empty,” Roberta explained. “We’ve had about 299 students come through this week.”
 
Jeff is delivering a donation from Making Change, MainStreet Bank’s employee-directed giving program. It’s his second year donating to the pantry at South Lakes, where both of his sons have been students.
 
“My family has been very fortunate, but so many students go without lunch or adequate food,” Jeff said. “I think it’s so important to support these students and help close the nutrition gap.”
 
Over 35% of South Lakes students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch at school. Many of these families are facing food insecurity, and struggle to afford breakfasts, dinners, and meals on weekends and holidays. Having an on-site food pantry means growing teens can focus on their classes, instead of worrying if they’ll have enough food when they get home.
 
“We hear from teachers pretty frequently and they tell us how important our pantry has been for their students,” said Roberta. “When they’re not hungry, when they can come get food, it really helps with their day-to-day education.”
 
The pantry also provides a much-needed resource for community members facing financial hardship and rising prices. One family who regularly comes to the pantry’s curbside pickup program has two adults who work full-time jobs. But with the local cost of living so high, they still struggle to afford the basics.
 
“People don’t really understand the scope of food insecurity in Northern Virginia,” Roberta said. “In Fairfax County alone there are 66,000 children who qualify for free and reduced lunch. Imagine what that looks like for families with two or three children. You’re talking about a lot of people.”
 
Roberta first got the idea for the food pantry in 2016. Tired of negativity and division she saw on the news, she started looking for a way to make a positive impact in the community. So when she heard that Oakton High School was starting a food pantry, she gathered a few friends to pitch the idea at South Lakes. The school loved it, and the pantry officially opened in the spring of 2017.

Roberta was initially worried that students would feel embarrassed coming to the pantry. But as word spread, it quickly became a community hub, where teens felt safe to gather and bring their friends. Many pantry recipients have also become volunteers, regularly donating their time to help others.
 
“It’s a very tight knit, compassionate community,” Roberta said. “And everyone feels like they’re able to give back, which is amazing.”
 
The pantry is open 50 weeks a year and has distributed over 2 million pounds of food since opening. They’ve grown from helping a few dozen students to over 300 students and 170 families a week. Much of the food is donated by local stores and through community food drives, but the pantry still spends about $500 a week on fresh produce. Donations like Jeff’s help cover these costs, so the pantry can stay open and stocked all year long.
 
“It takes a lot to do this,” Roberta said. “But it’s been amazing to see people in our community come together to help lift up the whole community.”