A donation was recently made to a district-wide program to help students at Greene County Schools.

The Grand Junction Presbyterian Church gave a $3,000 grant through the Presbytery organization to the Greene County School District’s “From At Risk to At Bliss” program. Greene County High School History Teacher Darren Jackson is also with the Grand Junction Presbyterian Church and talks about why they decided to give $3,000 to this type of program.

“I knew at the school that Emily Gannon’s program, it works on feeding kids, and giving them proper clothing, and hygiene products. But it also is kind of a path to counseling as well.” 

The program’s coordinator Emily Gannon says not only does she provide food, primarily from the Food Bank of Iowa, for those less fortunate students to get them through the weekend, she also has extra items in her office so that students can drop by during the school day to pick up items as well. Gannon is grateful for the continued support from the Grand Junction Presbyterian Church.

“We made some money from the Presbytery donated to us last year, and so he (Jackson) decided to apply for it again this year, because sometimes kids come in with need, whether it be clothing or hygiene items, or something like that. Sometimes I keep things on hand based on our limited space, but if they need a certain size (for clothing) or a certain item, it helps to have money in an account that I can just go get specifically what they need and not have to run around and look for it or have them wait. I can just meet their needs pretty quickly.”

Gannon adds her program also takes away the stigma of students having to visit counselors.