As many might know, the AHS Journalism staff made a series of stories last fall that covered a wide range of topics regarding the Arlington Food Bank. The Food Bank has been providing food for families in need during this pandemic, and the stories were to help get people to use the service if they needed it.

One of the story topics revolved around the plan for a Food Truck, a $120,000 project to get a truck that would provide food to families who can’t leave their homes or can’t make it to the Food Bank on time to get the food they need.

Of course, that was a few months ago, back in 2020.

Progress since then has been steady. There have been many who have donated and/or held events to raise the funds, including the Arlington Boys Basketball team, who on November 14, 2020, donated their bake sale proceeds and food drive items to the Arlington Food Bank.

Carla Gastineau, the executive director for the Arlington Food Bank, has said that in checks from students and their families alone, they have approximately $13,000 dollars in funds to go towards the Food Truck. She’s been very impressed and happy with the response from AHS students for the funds going towards this project. 

Going forward, there are a number of ways that there will be continued funding for the Food Truck. Ms. Gastineau spoke about a Coffee Campaign with the Coffee stands in the local areas, and even a sponsorship team led by retired superintendent Linda Byrnes. She also mentioned plans for students to talk with local businesses for support.

Carla Gastineau said that one of the best things to do to help this project is to talk about why we want to do this, to have this Food Truck. She explained that the holiday season, a hard time for families in need, has passed, but that these people are still in need. With some that can’t come to the food bank for a variety of reasons, the Food Truck could serve so many more people in our community. Not only that, but the Food Truck could also help to feed families in the neighboring town of Darrington, which is connected to the Arlington Food Bank, but lies 30 miles away.

The Food Truck can also give people dignity about being able to get the food they need, especially with harmful stigmas that push people away from that possibility. So the Food Truck won’t just bring people good food, but it will help those who need it the most get the care and help they need.