'A nice lift to the spirit'
Despite the masks, their smiles were apparent.
Outside Emily Brittain Community Partnership and Demonstration School, a local nonprofit handed out boxed lunches and Easter dinners to 100 families from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday.
“If we all would just share a little bit of our abundance, like we are today, they'll drive away with smiles on their faces, and they'll have enough for an Easter meal,” Inspired Hearts and Hands founder and President Mindy Schnitgen said.
Schnitgen, of Gibsonia, said Inspired Hearts and Hands worked with Emily Brittain to distribute roughly 500 boxed lunches and 100 Easter meal kits to families of students, part of the nonprofit's Easter campaign, during which it provided 850 boxed meals and hundreds of meal kits to those in need.
To receive the meals, all the families had to do was reserve a spot. Neither the school nor the nonprofit conducted means-testing, so any family in the school was eligible to receive the boxes.
For the Emily Brittain families, Principal Cassie Pencek said, the meals may have put a dent in families' needs, but the timing — and the school's other community work — has an impact.
“It's a nice lift to the spirits, especially in the midst of this pandemic,” Pencek said. “It's small, but anything we can do is helpful.”Brian Roush, a parent at the school, agreed.“This is amazing,” he said. “It really helps us give the kids an Easter they deserve.”Inspired Hearts and Hands sought to help nearly 600 families throughout Butler County and nearby areas with Easter meals, and did so by visiting various locations.On Friday, the nonprofit visited Pittsburgh to distribute food to 80 families with veterans at The Veterans Place on Washington Boulevard. Before stopping at Emily Brittain on Saturday, the group distributed meals to 30 families with veterans through the Butler Veterans Group, associated with Center for Community Resources.At all locations, the boxed lunches contained a sandwich, chips and a chocolate chip cookie. Schnitgen said DiBella's Subs matched the nonprofit's lunch box purchases one to one, so of the 850 meals distributed, 425 were contributed by the sandwich company.The Easter meal box provided to families included “all the fixings for an Easter meal,” in addition to other nonperishables such as pasta, Schnitgen said. In addition, the boxes contained a $10 gift card for groceries for any items not in the box, she said.
For the children, plastic Easter eggs with candy were added. And, because Easter is a time of color both on hard-boiled eggs and in nature, some coloring sheets were included.The meal distribution to families showcases the purpose of the community partnership and demonstration school.Pencek said one major goal of the school — which was renamed from the Emily Brittain Elementary School in 2019 — is to provide help to students and families beyond the academic education and support one might expect from a school.An earlier example is a similar meal distribution at Emily Brittain for Christmas, which sought to help families through the winter holiday.It's taken a couple of years, Pencek said, but the school works hard to build trust with students' families so they know any help needed will be provided.“When I first got here, I did a survey to find the needs and how to meet them,” she said. “We got eight responses. ... Recently, we've been getting between 70 and 100” responses.In large part, the school's aid to families comes from partnering with outside nonprofits and other community aid organizations such as the Center for Community Resources.“We may not have all the answers right now, but we will help and we will work to find those answers,” Pencek said.Parent Amberlyn Roush said the meal provisions, in addition to the other work at Emily Brittain to provide for those in need, rose to the occasion of the school's community-oriented name.“I think it's really great for the community, especially for the people who may not have the resources,” she said.
