ARCHBOLD, Ohio — School is where our young folks go to prepare for adulthood.
A northwest Ohio vocational school is making sure its students are also prepared for what they need right now.
Earlier this school year, a student inside Four County Career Center's counseling office told their counselor that they didn't have enough food at home to last the weekend.
So right away, the career center worked to partner with the United Way of Defiance County to start up a small food pantry for students.
"Students, especially these days, kids have so much to deal with and one thing I feel like they should never have to worry about is what they're going to eat, or where that meal's going to come from," school counselor Holli Horn said.
Since then, the "four counties" of Defiance, Williams, Fulton and Henry counties have all begun chipping in to make sure the pantry is fully stocked with not only food but health and hygiene items as well.
"For a lot of students, school is a safe place and it's a place to get away from some home lives that may not be the greatest," counselor Steve Inkrott said. "And if we can fill needs, in even a small way, we'll gladly do that."
On average, the counseling office helps pack up about 30 bags of food for students a week, but some weeks have gotten as high as 50.
For a school whose mission is to prepare these students for life after graduation, helping them while they're in school is an obvious service for these educators.
"For us, this is just one extra thing we do to make sure that they do have the necessary things to be successful inside of school and outside of school," Four County Career Center superintendent Tim Meister said.
The counselors at Four County Career Center say that this program does have the potential to grow and they're expecting it to continue on for years to come as long as there is a need.