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A teacher raised more than $100,000 to purchase enough food to keep thousands of children from going hungry over winter break.
Turquoise LeJeune Parker, with her volunteers, packs bags of food to deliver students in her school district.
Turquoise LeJeune Parker ends every class by telling each of her students she loves them. The 34-year-old library teacher at Lakewood Elementary School in Durham, North Carolina, does everything she can to prove it, and her recent fundraiser, which collected $106,000 to feed her students in need, is her most recent gesture of love.
Winter break can mean weeks of food insecurity for children and their families. "It's a basic human right. We're not talking about raising money to buy
people a vacation; this is food, a very, very basic thing," Parker said.
"We need to make sure we take care of our schools, because when we take
care of our schools, we're taking care of our community."
Her
endeavor, which she named Mrs. Parker's Professors Foodraiser, used the
money she raised to purchase, pack and distribute more than 5,200 bags
full of food to students at 12 schools throughout the Durham Public
Schools district.
In
the dozen schools the project helps, 98% of the students rely on the
low-cost or free lunches provided by their school. For many children, it
is their main source for food. But once the holidays come around, the
schools close and so do their cafeterias.
"Mrs. Parker has always had an army of donors and volunteers at the ready, to champion the needs of her students," Lakewood Elementary School Principal James Hopkins told CNN in a statement. "What's so impressive is that these efforts have provided students across Durham the same fortune; in this case, of receiving a substantial portion of food over the extended holiday break."
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| Volunteers packing the bags of food. |
Parker
knew she wanted to be a teacher since she was 4 years old, sitting on
her mother's bedroom floor, setting up her teddy bears and pretending
they were her students. "I
wanted to be a teacher all my life," said Parker, who has been a
teacher for 11 years. "This is what I love, it's all I ever wanted to
do, I am living my dream."
Now
the mother of one teaches more than 400 students, from kindergarten to
fifth grade, and her love for them goes beyond the classroom. "I
call my students Mrs. Parker's professors. If that tells you anything,
it's that I believe in them and I love them so very much," Parker said.
"'I need them to know that I love them, to remind them that love is an
action word. I will tell them all day, but I will also show them all
day."
Her
promise to keep all her student's fed began in 2015, when one of her
student's parents confided in her they would not have enough food for
the children to eat through the holiday break. "She
told me, 'I'll be okay, I can go without eating, but I can't let my
kids go without eating for two weeks.' It's really hard to know they
have stuff like this going on and not to do everything I can," Parker
said through tears. "My husband and I started thinking, if one family is
asking this question, then there must be more."
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| Turquoise LeJeune Parker and her husband. |
On
December 14, 2015, Parker sent a text to everyone she knew, asking if
anyone would be interested in donating money, so she could provide bags
full of food to last them for the whole holiday break. Progress
was slow but steady. The first year, she raised $500. Last year, she
reached $55,000. But this year proved to be a record, with more than
$106,000 donated from people all over the country. "It
has left me speechless. I've cried about it a little every day," Parker
said. "It took off in a way we could have never expected."
Within
two weeks, Mrs. Parker's Professors Foodraisers raised the money needed
to purchase enough food to fill up big, brown grocery bags for
thousands of children in the district. Each
bag contained kid-friendly food, such as cereal, canned goods, granola
bars and macaroni and cheese that can be cooked regardless of a family's
living situation.
"This
is a community effort. This is not $106,000 out of my pocket, this is
the result of us operating as a collective," Parker said. "It's because
of all the people who gave their time, their money, their talents to
make sure our kids are taken care of." With
the help of more than 60 volunteers who accompanied Parker to a local
Costco, the group purchased the food and spent days packing the bags
before delivering them to each school by December 11.
"Mrs.
Parker is a school district's dream teacher, a perfect mix of
competence and compassion who is committed to serving young people
holistically," Durham Public Schools said in a statement.
"Her
Foodraiser addresses food insecurity head-on, particularly during a
time of year when commercialism brings need to the forefront," the
statement continued. "Through her efforts, our food-insecure students
have access to sustenance when schools are closed for the holidays. She
is their lifeline."
The
fundraiser's success has inspired Parker to make it a lifelong project,
she said, with an aim to feed as many children as possible during both
winter and spring breaks.
Postdate
Saturday I grand-dog-sat for the first time in a while. The Superheroes and Grandhunks were at the special wedding of Hailey Cruz and Garrett Mitchell in San Diego. Grandhunk #2 and Garrett Mitchell have been best friends since t-ball.
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| Jake & Garrett |
So being best man, was an emotional honor.
The whole family were happy to celebrate the beautiful bride and groom.
And I got the most recent family photo.
Meanwhile back at the house on the hill, I enjoyed granddogs, Laker and Zoey!
On Sunday, Kevin and Michelle Suzuki came in from Redlands and we went to ...
Always fun to be together.
Just because ...
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| Crested Auklet |
Smiles for Tuesday ...
Thanks for coming by today.
