Food bank serving northern WCPS expected in September
Published 8:44 am Wednesday, July 16, 2025
DAVID MAMARIL HOROWITZ
david.horowitz@bgdailynews.com
Warren County Public Schools anticipates a new food bank at Warren East High’s Youth Services Center that’ll serve WCPS families facing food insecurity in northern Warren County beginning in September.
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WCPS obtained board approval Monday to pursue a partnership with the nonprofit Feeding America, targeting families whose need meets the nonprofit’s qualifications for the program, said Ben Kirtley, WCPS’s Director of Community Schools and Family Resource and Youth Services Centers.
The anticipated food bank, planned for Warren East High’s Youth Services Center, would enable WCPS to serve the Warren East feeder system, Kirtley said: North Warren Elementary, Oakland Elementary, Bristow Elementary, Richardsville Elementary, Warren East Middle and Warren East High.
Family Resource and Youth Services Centers at those schools could access the bank, Kirtley said.
The plan is in its preliminary stages, with WCPS signing its end of the agreement. Feeding America has met with WCPS and inspected the site, Kirtley said, and he anticipates the program will be up and running sometime in September.
It’d join other food resources in the area, from churches with food pantries, to the BackPack Food Program by Southern Kentucky Patriots and Feeding America. The latter program serves afternoon food Fridays in the area, particularly for most elementary and middle school children.
“But having it on hand, to be able to distribute it right away, is a big deal,” Kirtley said about the planned food bank. “Sometimes there’s a need and there’s a process you’ve got to go through to get to that need, and this basically shortens the process when we have a pretty immediate need.
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“If David had a food pantry, and I’m trying to get a hold of David, but I can’t get a hold of him, there’s a delay in that service. But when we know it’s there, that’s great.”
Feeding America would provide much of the food at a deeply discounted rate, Kirtley said. It’s too early to confirm any specifics, but he expressed confidence in a discount of around 40%-50%.
While Kirtley expects the program to be utilized “quite a bit,” WCPS and Feeding America are still figuring out specifics surrounding logistics and anticipated impacts. WCPS is additionally looking at creative opportunities such as times where families can confidentially swing through and pick up food, not unlike a drive-thru.
While the northern county feeder system would be the bank’s priority, it could also help families from outside the feeder area with one-time assistance during emergencies and refer them to other resources, Kirtley said.
The plan is to order food as often as monthly, and for certain, at least quarterly, Kirtley said. It’ll take several months of purchases to determine families’ needs and the type of food that would work best for them, Kirtley said.
Warren East High would be the eighth school statewide to start this program with Feeding America, Kirtley said. It’s essentially a pilot project to determine feasibility, he added – depending on how it goes, WCPS may expand it across county schools.
“A lot of times when we think of an immediate need, we often think of people who are deep into poverty, but sometimes we don’t think about the people that are working hard to live paycheck to paycheck,” Kirtley said.
“We want to make sure that those folks, if they have an emergency need, we’re there to meet it.”