Meet the Women Who Run the Essentials Pantry
Mary Catherine Wygonik, Liaison Coordinator (L), and Jackie Benson, Business Manager (R), help lead the Essentials Pantry. Pantry Volunteer Coordinator, Christine Wedekind, (not pictured), oversees volunteer recruitment and coordination.
When The Neighborhood Bridge conducted its original surveys and focus groups with school families to determine their needs, one of the needs mentioned was non-food household products. Although government programs address healthcare, food, and housing, they do not provide household, personal care, or baby care products that families rely on every day.
To help fill that gap, The Neighborhood Bridge launched the Essentials Pantry.
Three women—Jackie Benson, Mary Catherine Wygonik, and Christine Wedekind— are the driving force behind this complementary service for partner school families. These women have played a central role in building and operating the program.
Jackie Benson, TNB’s Business Manager and Pantry Coordinator, handles selecting and ordering products to stock the pantry. Mary Catherine Wygonik, Liaison Coordinator, works with TNB’s school contact at each school for both our Essentials Pantry and Advocate Program. Christine Wedekind, Pantry Volunteer Coordinator, ensures there are enough volunteers to pack and deliver the orders.
How the process works
If a family at a partner school wants to place an order, they contact the school’s TNB liaison staff member. The staff member then enters the family’s information and request into our order system.
Immediately, an email alert is sent to the Essentials Pantry staff. Orders placed Thursday-Sunday are fulfilled on Tuesdays, and orders placed Monday-Wednesday are fulfilled on Thursdays. Volunteers pack the orders and drop them off at the schools. TNB’s order system automatically sends a reminder to the school’s liaison as to which orders will be delivered on which day. School staff receive the orders and coordinate distribution directly with families.
Number of families served
The Essentials Pantry has filled over 200 orders for household and personal care products since last September. In addition, after spring break this year, a grade was selected at each partner school, and a sample packet was provided to each child in that grade to help alert families to this complementary benefit. Through both direct orders and sample distributions, the Pantry has reached more than 400 families in the last nine months.
This summer
This is the first summer the Essentials Pantry will be in operation and staff are proactively working with partner schools to ensure families can continue receiving supplies even when schools are not in session. Many of the schools are in session for at least part of the summer. For schools that are not, TNB staff is developing alternative ways to get supplies to families, such as allowing families to pick up their orders at the Bridge Center.
Our Commitment
As the Essentials Pantry approaches its first anniversary, The Neighborhood Bridge remains committed to ensuring families have access not only to emergency assistance, but also to the everyday essentials that help children thrive and households remain stable. What began as an idea identified through conversations with families has become a growing resource that is improving the quality of life across our partner school communities.
To learn why the products provided by the Essentials Pantry are important, read Essentials Pantry Provides Products for Dignity, Health, and Well-Being.
To learn about volunteer opportunities with The Neighborhood Bridge, go to our Volunteer page.