Students help bring food pantries to Gwinnett County schools
GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. - Two Gwinnett County high school students are on a mission to make sure that none of their classmates ever go hungry.
In April, we introduced you to 16-year-old twins Lauren and Steven Seroyer, who founded a confidential food pantry called "CARE Closet" at Peachtree Ridge High School.
CARE stands for "Community Assistance and Resource Effort." Lauren came up with the idea after a heartbreaking conversation with one of her own classmates.
"He said he was hungry, but couldn't bring snacks outside from home. So, that meant nothing from the home could leave the house. He just had breakfast at home and maybe a dinner when he got back home and the rest of the day he just had to go without. I was shocked because I've been to Atlanta to help feed the homeless, but never thought someone in my own school would be going through this," Lauren told FOX 5's Portia Bruner in April.
The siblings said the process is 100 percent confidential. The closets are in a counselor's office or in an isolated area, and only administrators know which students access the closets.
The Seroyer twins recently won the United Way of Greater Atlanta's 2016 Inaugural SPARK Gwinnett prize, which included a $25,000 grant. The siblings said they plan to put the money toward establishing CARE Closets at every Gwinnett County public school.
"We just want to do what we can to help whoever we can. It feels good to help. No kid should wake up wondering when they're going to eat again," said Steven Seroyer.
On Tuesday, Publix donated boxes full of food for the food pantry at Central Gwinnett High School. The CARE Closet at CGHS is the second of its kind in Gwinnett County. The original location is at Peachtree Ridge.