Tuesday, Sept 17 marks the opening day of the newly refurbished B-CC Cares Pantry. Over the weekend volunteers “emptied, scrubbed the pantry completely clean including the walls and the floors, and built new shelves,” said organizer and co-chair of B-CC Cares, Meg McKinney Weaver.
These images show the pantry BEFORE the renovations! Photos by Jane Maginnis
The B-CC Cares Pantry serves students and their families by providing food, hygiene products, and clothing throughout the year. They are open during lunch on Tuesdays and Fridays, and after school on Thursday. McKinney said that they “typically have more than 100 students who come through every week.”
The new shelves were made possible by a grant from the Metro Bethesda Rotary Club. The pantry “received a $5,000 dollar grant from the Metro Bethesda Rotary Foundation to revamp the pantry and also to do summer food deliveries,” said McKinney. According to Cause IQ, the Metro Bethesda Rotary Club “aid[s] domestic and worldwide charitable endeavors while the club also directly supports local charities.
These images show the pantry AFTER the renovations! Photos by Amelia Zalubas.
McKinney was thankful for the volunteers who made the event possible. “I really want to thank all of the volunteers. It was a lot of hard work. We had about 15 or 16 student volunteers, mostly B-CC students but also some WJ students, one Rochambeau student, and one Saint Andrew’s student. It was a great mix of people and some of the volunteers were from the Metro Bethesda Interact Club, which is the high school branch of the Metro Bethesda Rotary Club,” she said.
Students who are interested in joining the Metro Bethesda Interact Club can contact McKinney at [email protected].
Parents who are interested in volunteering can sign up for weekly or on demand slots at the pantry, donate goods through the Amazon wish list, make a donation through the PTSA, or drop off goods at the front office.
