Elementary Pantry Plan


General Information

  • Activity Objective: To teach campers about food insecurity, why food pantries exist, and how they work; to teach campers how to make smart choices when donating to food pantries; to give campers hands-on experience in checking food, sorting it, stocking shelves and packing grocery bags to be delivered to clients suffering from food insecurity.

  • Guiding points: (1) Campers should understand the terms food insecurity and food desert, and (2) be able to understand how to make good choices when donating to food pantries.

  • Activity will be 30 minutes with a 5 minute transition time.


Support & Technology Needs

  • No special support or technology is needed.


Activity Set up &Take Down

  • Sunday afternoon setup:

    • Review training plan and talking points;

    • Create a circle with tape on the floor for kids to sit on;

    • Ensure there is enough food on pantry shelves;

    • Check that pantry area is clean and reasonably orderly;

    • If activity will occur on Monday, set up the area that you will use for the “pantry” at non-STM locations, using tables as available, painters’ tape and labels. A copy of the necessary labels is in the folder and is also available in Dropbox.  

    • Make sure there are enough copies of the food donation request list to leave at the sign-in desk. If possible, post a copy of this in a few highly visible locations. (OK at STM, may not be at other facilities.)

    • Have a box or bag of “poor choices” for demonstration. (May not be available week 1.) Poor choices would include damaged or open packages, expired food, huge containers, etc.

    • Take photographs of the areas that you will use, to ensure we return it to the same setup when we leave.


  • Daily (Monday through Thursday):

    • If you are at a location that requires tear-down nightly, get “shelves” set back up.

    • Be sure the middle school helpers or Activity Leaders bring new food contributions over to the pantry ASAP each morning.

    • Determine if there are enough items for each team to be able to sort and stock the shelves. If not, try to see if you can get some of the day’s donations to your area early.

    • Depending on how food contributions are going, you may wish to ask the week’s Camp Director to resend an email with food requests.

    • At non-STM locations, be sure area is left as required daily. (This will be communicated clearly but separately from this document.)

    • After the last pantry session of the day, sort any food put in bags from activity (or add bags back into pile to sort).

    • On Thursday,at the end of camp, be sure pantry area is cleaned up and organized. At non-STM locations, assist with packing up and transporting food as directed by camp director. 

    • At the end of every camp, be sure location is left clean and neat (garbage taken out if needed, area swept, painter’s tape, signs, and labels removed and thrown away, etc.). If thermostat was reset, turn it back to original setting. Turn off lights, put away tables that were set up, etc.  Please take particular care to return any items that may have been moved to their original location.

    • At the end of the week, file a supply request form to replace any necessary supplies. Please submit this form even if no supplies are needed, for documentation purposes.


Activity Supplies (for camp week)

  • Painter’s tape to mark seating area on the floor;

  • Several brown grocery bags;

  • Sufficient food to pack a minimum of 2 bags. (More is better.) If there is not enough before the start of camp, notify the camp director;

  • A “poor choice” bag/box with items like a glass jar of spaghetti sauce, an oversized container of something, soda, unusual items people may not know how to use, expired food, damaged or open packages, etc.;

  • A “Pantry Area,” with labeled shelves or bins and elevated storage for completed bags – use blue painter’s tape to mark these areas;

  • Copy of food desert map.


Talking Points / Lesson Plan

  • What did you eat for breakfast today? What about tomorrow? Are you pretty sure you'll be able to eat something, even if it isn't what you might prefer?

  • Do you know what food insecurity is? It is when a person is not sure if he or she will have enough money to buy food. Some families have to decide between things like paying rent or buying food to eat. What if a child becomes sick? Even with insurance, doctor's visits and medicine cost money that may otherwise need to be spent on food. It seems strange to us, but sometimes food is less important than some of the other things people need to pay for, like shelter, transportation, electricity and water, etc.

  • Another difficulty is when people live in what is called a “food desert.” This is an area where people lack access to stores or other sources of fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and other foods that help make up a healthy diet. (Show map.) In our part of town, this is not a particular problem, but you can see that there are many locations in the Austin area where people cannot easily purchase these healthy foods, even when they have the money. This is usually because there is not a good store close by, and people may not have cars or other transportation to get to a more distant market.

  • When the MLF truck goes out, it sometimes goes to locations where there are homeless families or working poor. The trucks carry a few bags of groceries on them, filled with food for a day, plus a few extras. 

  • Talk with the kids about making smart choices when donating to food pantries.

  • Using your bag of sample food choices, talk to the kids about breakfast, lunch, and dinner choices. Compare the can of spaghetti sauce to a jar – why is the jar bad? (Glass can break and ruin the entire bag of food.) Why might we want a small box of cereal instead of a large one? (Look at how much space it takes up in the bag. If available, demonstrate how the big can of corn or whatever fills up most of grocery bag, but a small container leaves more room for other food.) If you can donate 2 small boxes instead of one large one, how might that be better? (You can fit more food in the bag with smaller boxes – and it gives clients more choice, too.) And what about soda? (What's the nutritional value of soda? NOTHING, so not a great choice!)          

  • About 50% of the food donated to food pantries is wasted. Why do you think that might be? Some of it is because the food is in a package that isn't practical, like what we talked about with the glass jars. But what about things like canned pumpkin, or water chestnuts, or green chilies? (Use examples pulled from shelves if you can.) Why aren't these good choices? (If you asked mom what was for dinner, and she handed you a can of pumpkin, would you be very happy?) Things like these are ingredients to cook with, but not really good on their own. Some people won't like them, and others won't know how to use them or prepare them. Even if they do know how to use an ingredient, they may not have the other items they need to make a recipe.

  • And what about things like a can of green beans? That's fine, but what if it's expired? Do YOU really want to eat expired food? What if a package is torn, or a can is badly dented? Think about it like this – if YOU wouldn't want to eat it, then you probably should think twice about donating it!

  • Activity 1 – Sort and stock shelves (bins)

    • Split into 2 teams. Have one team empty the top shelf of the cart and the other team take the bottom shelf. Have them check for expiration dates, intact packages, and place items where they belong (labeled shelf or bin). You may want to have a few things that you put in there deliberately to make the kids have to think. :)

  • Activity 2 – Filling bags for truck runs

    • Have kids divide into two even lines. (If the group is very large, you can have three lines instead.) Set a doubled brown bag at the beginning of each line. Leave the bag at the end of the aisle. 

    • Let the first kids in each line come pick the first item on the list to put into the bag. As always, work with what’s available. (You may need to remind them that it isn’t a race!) Take turns letting each pair of kids pick an item. 

    • Include in bag: 

    • Breakfast: cereal or oatmeal and 1 can of fruit

    • Lunch: peanut butter and jelly or 2 SpaghettiOs, Mac-n-Cheese, canned pasta, hearty soup, etc.

    • Dinner: can of spaghetti sauce & a package of pasta or a can of meat and a bag of rice

    • A can of veggies and a can of beans

    • Extras: a small can of tuna and a can of thin soup or a can of a tomato product (not pasta sauce)

    • Treats: 3-4 snack bars and 3-4 pieces of candy

  • Wrap up with closing thoughts. Did they learn anything new? 

  • Unpack bags once the kids leave (or add them back into the pile of unsorted food) to provide enough food for the next day's crews to work with. Tidy the pantry space and be sure other supplies are ready for the next day. 

  • At locations other than St. Thomas More, tear down location nightly if directed to do so. Pack food up at the end of the week and arrange with camp director where it needs to go, who will pick it up, etc. You will need to bring the painter’s tape to mark off floor areas to serve as “shelves,” as well as the box of “undesirable choices.”