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Orion Academy Staff Hosts Community Food Drive

Families across the country have been heavily impacted during the coronavirus pandemic, and school leaders and staff at Orion Academy saw those impacts first-hand. Aiming to align with the school’s Moral Focus curriculum by doing the right and honorable thing, the school hosted its first community drive-thru food pantry.



The drive-thru event was in partnership with Freestore Food Bank, a Cincinnati-based non-profit that aims to “improve lives by eliminating hunger in partnership with our community.” The organization's vision works to create a hunger-free, healthy, and thriving community.

“Orion is proud to give back to our local community,” said Taneka Smith, principal at Orion Academy. “Our staff continues to find unique ways to provide support to our community and the families our school serves.” 
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The school’s admissions representative, Katrina Brown, shared that this partnership came into fruition as a result of staff members’ desire to support current families at the school in addition to the surrounding community by providing necessary resources during the pandemic.

“Nearly 80 community members were served during the drive-thru,” said Brown. “This event was made possible by our school staff.” Along with the box of food that was distributed, school leaders also provided enrollment information for the school.
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In the months ahead, the school also plans to begin offering mobile food pantries in collaboration with the Freestore Food Bank, utilizing school buses to deliver food to the local community. “We also have a fresh produce pop-up scheduled in May,” shared Brown.



Later this spring, Orion Academy leaders will begin having fresh produce available daily for people in the community.
 
Orion Academy is a free public charter school in Cincinnati, Ohio, serving students in kindergarten through eighth grade. National Heritage Academies (NHA), a charter school management company in Grand Rapids, Mich. has over 95 tuition-free, public charter schools across nine states, serving more than 60,000 students in kindergarten through 12th grade. For more Is information, visit nhaschools.com.


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