SPRINGDALE, Ark — The Springdale Treehouse Pantry celebrated its first year of service on Tuesday.
The pantry opened on October 25, 2021, under Springdale Public School's parent and student services. According to a press release, the pantry distributed about 1 million pounds of perishable and non-perishable items during the 2021-22 school year.
Springdale Public School's Damon Donnell explained that the district served about 8,500 families and some 50,000 student snack packs during that year. They had well completed their goal of serving 3,000 district families in a year.
“We smashed our goal for serving students and families during the 21-22 school year,” Donnell said. “We’re now setting new goals to provide even more services.”
During its celebration, Donnell contributed much of the pantry's success to its community partnerships.
"The vision of this place is community partnerships equal community success," said Donnell. "Without those partnerships, you're looking at an empty building."
Tyson Foods donated 200,000 pounds of protein since the pantry opened, according to Kelly Hellbusch, the Tyson Foods communications representative.
Tyson Foods' Patrick Bourke explained that the Treehouse Pantry would serve as an example as they expand their community pantry program.
"We consider this sort of our pilot project for moving forward on school pantries," said Bourke. "We invite them here. This district is super gracious with their time and efforts to show other districts of what their school pantry looks like."
Donnell explained that the pantry was established in a 3,000-square-foot building purchased through an anonymous $400,000 donation from a Springdale High School graduate. He said that the district paid about $250,000 and spent some $150,000 to remodel it.
“Springdale Schools looks forward to supporting district families through the Treehouse Pantry for many years to come,” Springdale's Director of Communications, Trent Jones said. “We want families to know their school district is there to serve them through any circumstances.”
Donnell said that students and families in the Springdale school district can access resources at the Treehouse Pantry by contacting a school's social worker, counselor or nurse.
Download the 5NEWS app on your smartphone:
Stream 5NEWS 24/7 on the 5+ app: How to watch the 5+ app on your streaming device
To report a typo or grammatical error, please email KFSMDigitalTeam@tegna.com and detail which story you're referring to.