TIMONIUM, Md. — Lori Levinson has packed up bags of groceries to take to her car. However, these bags are not going home with her.
They're going to students at Parkville High School, where she volunteers at the school's pantry.
“We put out toiletries and household goods and snacks for the kids,” Levinson says. “And we usually get in a 15-minute timeframe about 130 kids going through.”
Those items come from the Student Support Network, a community group that has Rooms of Support at 21 Baltimore County Public Schools. School volunteers like Levinson come here and shop for items to fill the pantries.
“It has grown over the years as the kids have come to count on us,” she says. “And it means a great deal to people who don't have.”
Now the Student Support Network has an urgent need: lightbulbs.
“We have students in poverty who live in apartments with one lightbulb,” says Wendy Stringfellow, executive director. “And we've heard from our schools it is being used from room to room to room, so if somebody's in the kitchen cooking and somebody has to do homework, that lightbulb is getting moved around.”
She says they had four lightbulbs left when she put out the call for help on their Facebook page.
After that, an anonymous donor gave them 400 lightbulbs last week, and they only have a few packs left.
“Lightbulbs are a part of the basic necessity,” Stringfellow says. “We want to help students succeed. And so, in order to succeed, you need to be able to do your homework and then come to school prepared.”
The Student Support Network has an Amazon wish list. You can select lightbulbs and other items it needs for its students. And there are other ways you can help, too.
