As the popular saying goes, “It takes a village to raise a child.”

These days, educators are charged with the task of helping students grow not only academically, but also socially and physically.

That’s why Washington High School is collaborating with local organizations and businesses to help meet the basic needs of its students when their families are struggling to meet them.

The school is working to keep a food pantry stocked with canned goods and nonperishable food items, as well as a hygiene pantry stocked with feminine products, toothbrushes/toothpaste and deodorant for students who may need the extra help.

Laura Thompson, a social studies teacher at Washington High, said the idea came out of a discussion about the “Backpack Buddies” program and how to make it applicable to the high school.

“Teachers would know of students who had needs, and we were all sort of meeting those needs,” she said, adding that teacher Anna Harrell has been a big help in that process. “So it all fit together.”

Thompson said First South Bank has been instrumental in donating supplies to keep the two pantries stocked, and the school also receives supplies from food drives held throughout the year.

Jennifer Beach, a guidance counselor at Washington High, said teachers typically refer students to a counselor if they see a student has a need that is not being met.

She said counselors act as middlemen to provide those students with supplies they may need, in a private, anonymous way. The two pantries are in separate locations, as space is limited, but both are kept in back rooms — the food pantry in the media center and the hygiene pantry in the student services department. Students are also given discrete bags in which they keep the products.

“We will pull the students in and just check on them,” Beach said. “It’s starting to get around now more that there are things accessible to our students.”

Despite the possibility of a stigma that may be attached to students who are in need, she said that is not the case at all at Washington High. Students look out for one another and will speak up if they see a friend who could benefit from one of the pantries, Beach said.

And in Beaufort County, many educators treat students as if they were their own children.

“It has truly been the child comes in very humble and very, very appreciative,” Beach said. “I mean just three pencils, if that’s all you picked up. … It is a true appreciation.”

“Maybe in the child’s mind, it’s more of a pride issue,” Assistant Principal Wendy Dixon added, referencing the need for private pantries. “They want to be included, and they want to be like everyone else.”

Beaufort County’s Bright Futures program has also played an important role in making the pantries a reality, as did Eagle’s Wings food bank, according to Patricia Horton-Albritton, who sits on the Bright Futures council.

“I think people might assume that something like this wouldn’t work because you’re going to have people take advantage of it. It’s not like that,” Thompson said. “They’ve formed that connection with a teacher, that that’s a trusted adult they can tell.”

The goal for this school year was to start the pantries and keep them stocked, a goal that has been successful so far, she said. The school also has donated school supplies to give to students who may need them.

“I think we wish it were larger, but it’s a really good start,” Dixon said.

“The ultimate long-term, in the end, dream scenario would be that we would have something that would function similar to a food bank here for some of our students,” Thompson said. “We know what the vision is, but it’s baby steps to that vision.”

“It’s that true example of how it’s ‘taking a village.’”