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The Whitsons team in Dighton-Rehoboth Regional School District, MA is proud to support Falcons Fueling Families – a new on-site food pantry to help ensure a day without school does not mean a day without food for district students and families facing food insecurity.  

Whitsons General Manager Colleen Pais helped lead Whitsons’ efforts in joining several community partners to create a food pantry at Dighton-Rehoboth High School to help students and families facing food insecurity, making food accessible before long weekends and school closures. Colleen assisted the district with the application that secured the Hannaford Fueling Kids $5000 grant to help fund the program.  

Colleen will also help manage the pantry, working with school administration and counselors to restock the pantry and provide food to students and their families in need.  Individual bags of food will be prepared for families who school counselors know are in need of food assistance. Those families will be contacted by school administration and can drive right up to the Falcons Fueling Families Pantry, which is a storage container donated by Sterling Container Sales & Rentals located in the parking lot of Dighton-Rehoboth High School. 

At a ribbon cutting ceremony on September 29, Superintendent Bill Runey and Whitsons VP of Operations Dennis Gomez spoke about the importance of the mission behind Falcons Fueling Families and its role in the district’s strategic plan – DRiving Toward 2030.  
 
“If we are serious about empowering students, igniting possibilities, and shaping the future, then we have to recognize that students do their best when families and communities are supported as well. Community Engagement is not something separate from our work, it is part of the work,” said Superintendent Rooney 

“We’re very excited to be a part of this. Whitsons Culinary Group has three passions – Food, Family, and Service. And Falcons Fueling Families could not fit better to those values,” said Dennis Gomez.   

Whitsons joins other community partners, including Sterling Container Sales & Rentals, Hannaford Supermarkets, Blount Fine Foods, and Signs By Tomorrow, in officially launching the pantry to serve students and families on Wednesday, October 7, in advance of the long holiday weekend. Falcons Fueling Families accepts donations of non-perishable and canned goods from the public and will revaluate potentially extending the program to every weekend during the school year based on demand and the ability to stock the pantry.  

Read More Here: 
https://www.yahoo.com/news/us/articles/dighton-rehoboth-launches-no-questions-162754704.html?guccounter=1