At Sterling Park Elementary, a Second Harvest Food Bank truck of food arrives every month full of fresh produce.The PTA manages the Eagle’s Nest food pantry, and they recognize that food is important and that some families are struggling to have meals after they leave school.”Until Second Harvest came around, I don’t think I had ever even thought about passing out produce,” Sharyn Battey, Sterling Park’s PTA president, said.Now, students and families are getting nutrients that are imperative to their learning and growth that they were not getting with just canned and box items.”They are getting excited about the variety of food because it’s something new and exciting, and because it’s exciting, they’re trying new things. They’re going to maybe try a food that they wouldn’t have before,” Eagle’s Nest coordinator Deanna DeFilippo said.Battey said she didn’t have a program like this when she was younger.”I know what it’s like to be hungry. I know what it’s like to either have brand new shoes or have spaghetti on the table, and so I feel it deeply when I hear these stories,” she said.On average, one student or one family every week is added to the food pantry’s list.Sterling Park’s principal acknowledges that when students come in without their basic needs met, they won’t be able to attend to instruction, and that can even cause them to act out.”We want to support them when they’re at home so they can be nourished and come to school and learn,” DeFilipo said.The kids were excited to see the fresh produce and to take them home.”This has really opened up our ability to give back to families, which is something very close to my heart,” Battey said.