On Novem­ber 16^th, 2022, the Justice PTSA offi­cially opened the Wolf Shack — a school store and resource pantry. In an effort to provide essen­tial resources that are easily acces­si­ble by the school commu­nity, the Wolf Shack is stocked with food, toiletries, and acad­e­mic supplies. It is open after school on Wednes­days and Thursdays.

Accord­ing to the JHS PTSA, “The success of this endeavor is depen­dent upon the finan­cial support and volun­teerism of the students, staff, and commu­nity.” Funds are raised through the sale of spirit wear, snacks, and drinks. Addi­tion­ally, dona­tions are welcome and neces­sary to create a fulfill­ing amount of mate­r­ial that can support students here.”

Kim Lanoue, Pres­i­dent of the PTSA since the summer of 2021, strongly advo­cated for the Wolf Shack and has been a major part of this essen­tial service to the student commu­nity after she and former Justice prin­ci­pal, Maria Eck visited Annan­dale High School’s food pantry.

“At some point, during that school year, [Prin­ci­pal Eck] offered the PTSA a space to use if they wanted to create some­thing like that at Justice High School,” said Lanoue. “I wanted to be sure that we increased the momen­tum of our effort. I knew that we had to do some­thing unique to fit our commu­nity, and not neces­sar­ily some­thing that had been done before”

The Wolf Shack strays away from the tradi­tional pre-bagging or distri­b­u­tion lines found in other food assis­tance programs.

“We are not a typi­cal food pantry, in fact, we purpose­fully do not call ourselves that,” Lanoue says. “We are more like a conve­nience store that has free items…and anyone can come in! That’s really the thing, that anyone can come in.”

At Justice High School, data from FCPS’s school profiles show that in the 2021–2022 school year, 65.75% of students qual­i­fied for free and reduced fees — and this is only increas­ing since the pandemic hit.
“Food inse­cu­rity has no face,” said Lanoue. “We all might need some­thing at some point”

Although, she believes this is just one data point to be consid­ered, and there is more to be done.
“We want to take our learn­ing about our own commu­nity to create programs that are truly help­ful, sustain­able, digni­fied, and meaningful.”

The PTSA will continue to put forth full efforts in enhanc­ing the school commu­nity for staff and students. “[We hope] to provide enrich­ment that will help students be the best acad­e­mics, artists, athletes, and decent civic-minded members of soci­ety,” Lanoue concludes.

Students can find the Wolf Shack in B27 near the theater rooms. Initia­tives to combat food inse­cu­rity like the Wolf Shack inspire ongo­ing support from the commu­nity that will continue to make a change for the better.