Einstein Ramps Up Titan Food Pantry

By Campbell Goldston

Titan Pantry was started by the PTSA and the previous school Pupil Personnel Worker (PPW), an MCPS employee who helped families during the COVID-19 pandemic (the 2020-2021 school year) as an emergency resource provider for Einstein students. Titan Pantry continues to provide essential supplies, such as food, winter jackets, and grocery gift cards, for its community through food drives and distributions. 

Two Einstein Staff members, Alexis Oser, an ELD teacher at Einstein, and Senaida Sharif-Ture, Einstein’s well-being social worker, are both leaders of Titan Pantry. The pair works to coordinate between the school, students, families, and the PTSA, make decisions on what is needed for the pantry, organize student helpers for distributions, and work through program logistics.

Oser explained the importance of the Titan Pantry, saying that “it's a project that connects, supports, and strengthens our Einstein community. The primary purpose of the pantry is to assist families in the AEHS cluster who are living with food insecurity. But it's also a way to show that we value and respect the diversity and well-being of our students and families.”

Sharif-Ture said, “I believe since the school year has begun, we have served over three hundred families. I always say that it takes a village to raise children, and I feel like the Titan community as a whole shows up to take care of our Titan family.”

Adding to this, Kirstin Goldston, an Einstein parent and MCPS employee, serves as the liaison between school contacts and the PTSA and acts as a point of contact for community members with questions. 

She shared how Titan Pantry is an instance where a community recognized the need for this organization and took initiative to help their own community by lessening students’ load by providing them and their families with resources in a convenient space. 

This school year, Titan Pantry partnered with Mid-County United Ministries (MUM), an organization that “helps people in crisis in the Silver Spring, Wheaton, Kensington, Rockville and Aspen Hill communities with food, medicine, eviction prevention and utilities, emphasizing client choice, problem-solving and self-sufficiency.”

With MUM as a partner, they have secured a grant that allows them to provide fresh food and non-perishable items for 100 bags a month for Einstein and its cluster schools. In January, the pantry was able to serve 85 families during their distribution. Titan Pantry has worked to have monthly distributions, typically on the last Monday of the month, as long as the school calendar allows. At these distributions, students can volunteer and earn SSL hours for sorting, bagging, and distributing food. 

In past years, Titan Pantry’s distributions were less scheduled, typically two to four times a year, but the partnership with MUM has allowed for more distributions to happen throughout the year, especially closer to breaks.

Titan Pantry works closely with the PTSA, with the pantry relying on food donations and financial assistance from both the PTSA and the Einstein community. Other partnerships have also happened, with Oakland Terrace Elementary School’s Girls on the Run program and Rock Creek Palace Aid Citizens Association hosting food drives in which items were donated to Einstein’s Pantry this fall. 

In between distributions, food and other resources are available as needed for Einstein students. Food that doesn’t get given away at distributions or other donated items is stored within the pantry until needed by students. Titan Pantry also works to set families up with other food banks and resources to provide extra support if needed.