With an estimated 95,000 people experiencing food insecurity across Northwest Arkansas, students at Rogers Heritage High School are taking action close to home. In partnership with NWA Food Bank, the high school introduced a food pantry in August 2025 to help support families in their community.
About 20 student volunteers help distribute food on the second Friday of each month, serving approximately 90 families per distribution.
For many students, the Heritage High food pantry offers a convenient way to complete required volunteer hours for graduation. The distributions take place on campus, right after school, making it easy for students to get involved without transportation or scheduling barriers. For some, the experience has quickly become more meaningful.
“Initially (I volunteered) to get hours, but then realizing the impact we're making by giving out food, it's fulfilling for me,” says Jacob Abrego, a junior at Heritage High. “It just feels good to help people.”
Kimberly Pineda, a senior at Heritage High, says her favorite part of the program is seeing people’s faces when they are handed the food.
“I remember the first time I volunteered was for the Thanksgiving meal that we gave out,” she says. “We saw a lot of familiar faces and families, and they all looked very happy. I was glad to give out the food and help them out—it's important to give back to your community.”
Heritage High teacher Wayne Levering, who started the school’s food pantry in partnership with NWA Food Bank, says the program has been growing since its launch and that many of his students have been enthusiastic about volunteering.
“I believe that students want to do good things for other people, and they want to do things like this,” he says. “They just don't know what to do, and they don't know how to do it, and that's part of our role as teachers, to open up those doors and avenues and show them.”
Wayne also takes the students in his Food Safety & Nutrition course to NWA Food Bank to volunteer assembling and filling boxes of food. They also take a cooking class with the nonprofit’s nutrition education coordinator.
“They are getting a well-rounded experience and a peek into the world of food banks and food insecurity,” says Lauren McGrath, senior programs manager with NWA Food Bank.
In spring 2026, Wayne says the students will also be volunteering at the Samaritan Center in addition to the food bank.
Heritage High’s food pantry operates in partnership with NWA Food Bank’s School Pantry Program, which launched in 2019 and now includes 34 schools across 16 districts in Northwest Arkansas. NWA Food Bank serves four counties in Arkansas, including Benton, and is one of six food banks in Arkansas part of the Feeding America Network. The nonprofit collects food, partners with local organizations for distribution, and directly provides food through its various programs.
Rogers Academy of Leadership and Innovation is part of NWA Food Bank’s School Pantry Program, and is also supported by student volunteers. This program offers a market at the school where families can go to pick out food for free.
Feed Rogers
Feed Rogers, another program created by NWA Food Bank in 2022, offers a free client-choice pantry that allows guests to select their own food rather than receive a pre-packaged bag of groceries. The Feed Rogers market is appointment based, located at 216 S. 13th St., and is open to anyone in the community with no income or residency requirements.
The staff at Feed Rogers is bilingual, and the program also offers free workshops that change monthly, such as budgeting and nutrition classes.
“It is a really special place where it feels like a community—we call it a community resource center,” Lauren says. “It is a community feel where neighbors know each other and sometimes they volunteer, and sometimes they're shopping, and it really breaks down barriers.”
How To Help NWA Food Bank
- Volunteer: NWA Food Bank is always looking for volunteers both at its warehouse and Feed Rogers location, bagging up groceries and stocking shelves.
- Donate: “Monetary donations really help us in our school pantry program, because we can make the dollar stretch using our resources,” Lauren says.
- Organize a Food Drive: Local businesses and organizations can organize their own food drives and donate the items. Some organizations like to do themed-food drives, where they collect a product based on a theme, such as spices, baking materials, or back-to-school snacks. “There's a lot of ways to get involved, and we believe in our community and the power of community,” Lauren says.