At the beginning of the school year, Legacy received a donation of $10,000 from Rush Creek Church to fund the school’s food pantry. Principal Stephanie Bonneau attended a church service at Rush Creek representing Legacy where she learned about the donation.

“It’s an amazing donation. It was far more than I ever expected,” Dr. Bonneau said. “I had a feeling it had something to do with the food pantry because they had worked with us on that the year before, and I was expecting $2,000 or ‘we’re donating a truckload of dry goods’ or something.”

The donation aims to foster students in need and provide them a resource of consistent food and hygienic products. The program also provides counseling resources to help students understand the importance of monetary responsibility. 

“It’s specific to our food pantry-related needs,” Dr. Bonneau said. “Our students who are in financial distress, their families are in financial distress, and they’re not able to buy the groceries they need. So this makes sure that everybody’s able to eat well-balanced meals at home regularly. We’re able to coordinate with another organization that will allow them to order the groceries online and pick them up.”

Legacy students and families with a need can coordinate with the Harvest In Mansfield Food Bank to schedule grocery shopping and pick-up time. The HIM Food Bank allows for families to get fresh food and produce from their refrigerators and pantries.

“I just want to stress that this is a huge blessing to our campus and that we’re very grateful to Rush Creek,” Dr. Bonneau said. “It is going to help support multiple families on our campus for the entire school year, and we have some students who are in need; we have some students who are really in need.”

Rush Creek made this donation through their Dollar Club ministry in which members of the church donate one extra dollar per month to raise money for nominated causes. Shane Cavitt, compassion minister at Rush Creek, helps coordinate where the proceeds from the Dollar Club go.

“Small amounts banded together for big impact,” Mr. Cavitt said. “We want the high school to be able to address food insecurity issues and fill any gaps that the students may be experiencing.”

Nutrition plays a key role in education and learning. Without the right amount of food, students’ grades drop and they have a more difficult time focusing. Hungry students are also associated with behavioral issues.

“You can’t learn if you don’t have food stability in your house, and it’s going to help put those students in a better place to be able to learn when they get here,” Dr. Bonneau said. “I’m thankful to the members of Rush Creek for the donations that enabled them to make the donation to us, and I’m thankful to Rush Creek and to our local churches that donate to the campus to make sure we have what we need.