News

Exeter Area Food Pantry Finds New Home in Old Gym

volunteers from food pantry stand in gym

When Karen Williams was a Lorane kindergarten teacher, she mentioned to her husband, Jack, that she had a surprising number of students who were eligible for free or reduced-priced lunches. To see what they could do, Jack and Karen approached the Greater Berks Food Bank (now called Helping Harvest) to assist the Exeter community in need. “When we went out there, they told us that 19606 and 19508 were the most underserved zip codes in the county. It was shocking.”

And that is how the idea of the Exeter Area Food Pantry began a dozen years ago. 

With the help of area churches, donations and volunteers, the Williams and a steering committee established the EAFP and began operating out of Reformation Lutheran Church serving approximately 10 families a month. However, as need grew within the community during the next decade, the EAFP started to run out of space at Reformation–which happened at the exact time that the pandemic hit. Explaining how it was a perfect storm of increased demand, lack of space, and the need to find a building that could provide them with a place to operate outside safely during the initial days of the pandemic, Karen said that the pantry couldn’t believe their good luck when the district approached them and offered them space in the Administration Building. “It was just phenomenal,” she said. 

Since the spring of 2021, the pantry has coordinated volunteers to come in several days before “the give,” as it’s called, to receive deliveries and stage food in the former gym of Lausch Elementary. During the early days of the pandemic, volunteers collected food for those in need and delivered it safely outside to a line of cars that pulled up under the former bus drop off, where both food and volunteers stayed dry in poor weather conditions and where people could safely interact with social distancing guidelines in place. Now, with those guidelines gone, the gym transforms into a grocery store each month as those in need come inside with shopping carts to pick and choose food themselves from the tables that are stacked with fresh fruit and vegetables, canned goods and baked items. The give also offers Senior High students an opportunity to earn their community service hours as students help elderly or disabled shoppers load their cars with groceries, or pick and choose items from the neatly-arranged tables. 

While the EAFP still receives approximately 90% of their food from Helping Harvest, Karen said that it’s becoming increasingly difficult to close the gap between what Helping Harvest is able to provide and what the community needs. “We’re now serving at least 200 families–and that number continues to rise every month.” She said Helping Harvest was only able to supply about 75% of their food this month–which necessitated them to use direct food donations and monetary donations they’ve received to supplement this month’s expected need. 

As need continues to rise, the Pantry finds itself also in need of more donations and more volunteers. For those who are interested in helping, monetary donations can be directed to Reformation Lutheran Church with a notation that the donation should be given to the Pantry. People who are interested in donating food can do so through a number of locally-organized food drives, such as the collection that the Latin Club organizes during next week’s Safe Halloween Night, or they can drop off food at the Administration Building on the third Thursday of each month from 8-11AM. She said the pantry will also accept canned food that is up to a year past its expiration date if it’s in good condition. Volunteers are always needed as well–including students who are looking for community service hours–and can coordinate their time by contacting the Pantry’s volunteer coordinator, Susan Swavely, at eafpvolunteers@nullgmail.com.

For those who need food assistance, the Pantry operates the third Friday of every month at the Exeter Township Administration Building in the afternoons from 1:30-5:30. Those in need are asked to call ahead at 610-572-2334 so that the Pantry can stock appropriately for each month’s give. 

For more information about donating to or receiving help from the Pantry, please visit their Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/ExeterAreaFoodPantry.

Exeter’s New Supervisor of Transportation Earns National Recognition

school bus driver holds magazine

It's National School Bus Safety week, and we're so very proud to announce that Exeter's Kaisha McCulley was recently selected as one of ten "Rising Stars" by School Transportation News, a nationwide trade magazine for school bus drivers and professionals. Ms. McCulley, who was named Exeter's Supervisor of Transportation during last night's board meeting, has been a bus driver for the district for 8 years. Last year, she became the district's permanent route substitute, which meant she had memorized every route in the district without using a GPS, and could substitute for any bus driver–a monumental task, said Ms. McCulley’s supervisor, Benjamin Bernhart, Director of Transportation. Last year, she also earned accreditation as a Pennsylvania Department of Transportation CDL school bus instructor trainer, allowing her to manage the district's training program for new and existing bus drivers.

“We’re so proud that Kaisha earned this distinction,” said Mr. Bernhart. “She is an incredibly dedicated bus driver and bus professional who is committed to safety and always learning more to enable Exeter to have the best school bus drivers. We are so very lucky to have her, and congratulate her for receiving this national recognition.”

Four seniors work juried into Scholastic 144 competition

students hold artwork

Congratulations to seniors Morgan Herb, Katie Ryan, McKenna Barker and Gabby Istenes for having their artwork juried into the Scholastic 144 competition at Shippensburg University. Their work, which could not exceed a combined 144 inches (hence the name of the competition), will be on display at the Kaufmann Gallery from November 5th through the 12th, and will be featured afterwards on their web gallery until March 1st.

Morgan's work, which was created in watercolor, depicts a young woman with her tongue tied--a nod to her childhood experience of having a speech impediment. Katie's colorful gouache work depicts a scene from the Smoky Mountains, which is where she vacationed this past summer. McKenna's oil pastel art is a moody, blue-hued introspective self portrait. Gabby also created a brightly-colored self portrait with colored pencils that depicts her favorite things, such as swimming, flowers and butterflies.

The students, who are all seniors, will have a chance to compete against other Pennsylvania and Maryland students to win awards up to $1,000.

Author Jordan Sonnenblick Drums Up Enthusiasm for Writing at ETJH

band plays in junior high auditorium
jordan sonnenblick teaches students during a writing workshop

Most visiting authors usually open a school assembly with a funny story, a reading from one of their books, or some sort of PowerPoint presentation. But when Mr. Jordan Sonnenblick, the acclaimed young adult author of books such as “Drums, Girls + Dangerous Pie,” and “Zen and the Art of Faking It,” came to Exeter Township Junior High today, he opened his assembly behind the drums. 

Music is a central theme of many of Mr. Sonnenblick’s young adult novels, often with his teenage characters finding solace, healing or popularity behind a drum, guitar or saxophone. So it was only natural for Exeter librarian Mrs. Kate Sowers to ask Mr. Sonnenblick if he wanted to incorporate music into his assembly and play with the Junior High's famed teacher-fronted rock band, “The Early Dismissals,” when he first came to visit the school in 2018. Fast forward five years later, when Mrs. Sowers invited him back, Mr. Sonnenblick happily accepted with a light-hearted caveat, “Only if we can get the band back together.”

Besides playing the drums today, Mr. Sonnenblick will focus a full day on inspiring 7th and 8th grade students to become better writers in writing workshops, assemblies and book signings. But, somewhat ironically, it was a student who inspired him to become a writer when he was an 8th grade English teacher and had a student in his classroom who was dealing with a sibling’s cancer diagnosis. As he explained to a hushed and packed auditorium this morning, in an attempt to help her, he looked for a book where the character was going through a similar situation–and came up empty-handed. It was then that he dedicated his nights and weekends to writing a similar story, which eventually became his debut novel, “Drums, Girls + Dangerous Pie.” 

That book, written in 2004, is now being read by all 7th grade students in Exeter, which was a purposeful and thoughtful decision among the reading teachers to coincide with Mr. Sonnenblick’s visit as students had a chance to meet, talk with, learn from and be inspired by an author they were able to meet in person said Mrs. Sowers. “I hope Jordan’s visit today will help them learn a little bit more about the process, practice and hard work it takes to be a writer,” she said, continuing, “But I also hope that it inspires them to see that if he can do this, I can do this, and that their stories are important.”

Senior High Students Prepare for their Futures During College & Career Readiness Day

students listen to tour guide at alvernia university
students gather on bridge at college

Yesterday, students at the Senior High all had a chance to dream, plan and start preparing for their futures during Exeter's first-ever College & Career Readiness Day. This event, which was held at many schools across the nation yesterday, offered all sophomores and juniors an opportunity to take the PSAT during school hours. The PSAT gives students and their families valuable insight and practice to take the SAT for college admissions, and allows juniors with qualifying scores the opportunity to earn prestigious scholarships and national merit recognition. While 10th and 11th graders worked on their exams, freshmen worked in Naviance on entrepreneurship activities and completed other grade-level activities and meetings. Seniors who chose to come to school listened to presentations from RACC, CareerLink and the Dream Team of Berks County. 

The majority of seniors, however, opted to arrange their own independent college visits, independent job shadowing experiences or enjoyed a tour and lunch at a local university on school-sponsored trips to Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology and Millersville University or RACC and Alvernia University. 

Senior High Principal Tom Campbell said he chose to dedicate a day for College and Career Readiness because it demonstrates the district’s commitment to have each student college or career ready by graduation–an initiative, he says, that has to begin in 9th grade. Assistant Principal Julie Davis said that students were already providing great feedback about the day. “Seniors were so excited about their opportunities to spend a day away from school to really focus on taking their next steps after graduation. We heard great feedback all afternoon as students said they were wowed by the experiences they chose.” 

Although the day was a massive undertaking to organize different activities for different grade levels and students with different interests after graduation, the principals said that the effort truly seemed to be appreciated by students and their families. “Parents expressed thanks for organizing the PSAT opportunity, and students showed up yesterday prepared to test and committed to do their best,” said Mr. Campbell, continuing, “Meanwhile, our seniors really appreciated the opportunity to take a day to tour colleges or arrange a job shadowing experience that they may not have done on their own or when it required missing a day of school.”

Merriment meets Exeter Students at Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire

Huzzah! Throngs of junior and senior high masters and mistresses and lords and ladies merrily attended the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire last week to sing, act and soak up history–and just be soaked thanks to the rainy weather. The joint field trip saw junior high music students perform for the festival goers, and Mrs. Burkhart’s 8th grade accelerated social studies class took part in a wedding, watched jousting matches and noshed on turkey legs and exotic jerky. Senior high students from Mr. Wickstrom’s Creative Expressions class performed a scene from “Macbeth” in a theater competition, which students spent a month preparing for in class by rehearsing lines, assembling props and creating costumes–as well as gory special effects for a vengeful ghost. 

Nay. Although Exeter’s theatrical and musical performances did not win the day, Mr. Wickstrom said that the students left feeling great about their efforts and learned a lot throughout the experience. Mrs. Burkhart agreed. “The experience they had outside the classroom was absolutely amazing! I think students loved the most that everyone at the faire stayed in character and interacted with them throughout the day.”