Kalkaska High School Gives Back to Students with Karen’s Kids Pantry

“It has been life changing for me.”

Karen’s Kids is a pantry at Kalkaska High School.
It was started by a woman named Karen.

“It’s one of the reasons I took a job here because I love teenagers.”

“This student just needs clothes, or this student is hungry. And my mom said, this shouldn’t happen.”

Dunn says, “We have a lot of students that are on their own, living with their grandparents, and the struggle is just as real for that age as younger students. We focus on older kids and making sure they’re not hungry. We supply food, clothing, toiletries, anything that would make life easier for them.”

Unfortunately, in 2020, Karen passed away with complications from Covid.
The women behind the pantry were determined to continue the work– in Karen’s memory.  

“It’s meant a lot to me that it has grown to what it is now. My mom said every teenager should at least have something that they feel proud when they walk down the hallway, that they’re wearing. They should be able to walk in these halls and not feel embarrassed,” says Mary Deb Rabourn.

One student, Lillian Scarborough, shares with us, “Coming into my freshman year, I was removed from my home and placed into another one, and with three siblings it was a little hard on my grandmother. It’s a safe place. You don’t have to feel ashamed to come in here and grab what you want.”

“Sometimes I think they just wanna come in also just because they need that hug or verbal encouragement. We just love them and I think they love us,” says Dunn.
Mary Deb says, “I do feel like it has fostered more relationships between us and the students, and they feel comfortable.”

It’s those relationship that make this so successful.
For many students– the pantry is like home.

“We had started out with some of these kids as freshman and they’re graduating this year so after four years of seeing them, they almost feel like your own.”

“That stability provided me enough room to grow on my own and get that independence for myself and that means a lot to me because I didn’t have that stability growing up,” says Scarborough.

Another student, Lauren Judd, explains, “They can come in here and get anything to keep them warm, or if they don’t have food at home, they have an opportunity to get food and so it’s made a huge impact on our school.”

The pantry aims to be a place where the students don’t feel judged.
Prioritizing a no-ask policy, they allow the students to take up to ten items, and unlimited clothing.

“It decreases that social stigma or stereotype that this is a place to come if you’re poor- no, this is a place to come if you need something. It is so easy to focus on school when you’re not worrying about what’s going on at home, or how you’re going to have that next meal,” says Scarborough.

Rabourn says, “Because they don’t always feel comfortable coming down and saying something, and this allows us to give them what they need without them feeling like the spotlight is on them.”

“It can just be that someone forgot their lunch and they need a snack bar, it could be someone going to a basketball game and they’re not going to have time for dinner. Doesn’t have to be the worst circumstances for them to come in and get a snack.”

“She’s going out looking for stuff teens would wear, teens would like.”

Karen’s Kids is always taking donations and checks can be made to Kalkaska High School.
But one thing Jamie’s noticed is a favorite…

She says, “The kids here love spaghetti-o’s and we have no been able to find them for over a month.”