Mount Holly s Robinson twins raise funds for Backpack Food Program gastongazette.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from gastongazette.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The Gaston Gazette
As a child growing up in Queens, New York, Kelly Whitesides knew what it meant to worry about where her next meal was coming from. I know how important this program is, she said, as she stood with her husband Sam in the BackPack Weekend Food Program warehouse on Linwood Road in Gastonia. I was one of those kids when I was young, she continued. I like the way this program works. I like the way the kids receiving the food are not singled out or embarrassed. I like the good this program does.
Whitesides had volunteered with the program several years ago, but she and her husband, Sam, had their interest renewed when they read a recent front-page column in
No college course in classroom management. No theories of learning styles. No student teaching.
Here s your room. Here s your desk. Sink or swim. No floatation device provided.
I learned a lot and I learned it all very quickly.
One of the very first things I learned was that a teacher has to keep food in the classroom. Packs of Lance peanut butter crackers. Granola bars. Apples. Bananas.
A literal grab and go such as the Hampton Inn might provide.
The reason that cache of food was a necessity? Hungry kids can t learn. Hungry kids can t focus on the intricacies of Macbeth. Hungry kids can t write a strong thesis statement.
BackPack fundraiser helps feed hungry Gaston students
Saturday, Feb. 21, was a cold winter evening across Gaston County as the sun sank early and the winter chill began to spread across the darkening landscape.
But for 200 people around the county, the late-winter night brought a special treat - a hand-delivered, four-course dinner, lovingly prepared at the Gaston Country Club.
The 200 dinners, which included crab cakes, tomato bisque, beef short ribs, and a chocolate dessert, had been ordered in support of the BackPack Weekend Food Program s fundraiser, Dining at the Chef s Table: Together, Apart. We are so very pleased with the community s support of this effort, said Executive Director Dallas Butler, noting that the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic prevented the organization from hosting the event at the Country Club as it had in years past.