Joey’s Food Locker is located at Natomas High and run by 18- to 22-year-old students in the Adult Transition Program. None of those things existed in the District when Natomas Unified was created nearly 25 years ago: no food locker, no high schools, no adult students.
The food locker is an example of how Natomas Unified has expanded through the years to fill a community need in a way that enhances students’ education as well. NUSD’s B. Teri Burns Health Clinic has similar potential for training via public service.
Here’s how Joey’s Food Locker works: Canned and dried food is donated by the Natomas community, stored at Natomas High, then distributed once a month to local residents in need. Opened a year ago, it now serves about 170 people per month.
Adult Transition Program students, who are learning independent living skills to overcome physical or mental disabilities, gain experience in customer service, bagging, stocking shelves, and checking expiration dates through the food locker. Everybody wins.
Joel Schwieger, who teaches the Adult Transition Program, said that he has been touched by the impact the food locker and the gratitude of its patrons, some of whom are on fixed incomes and struggling to feed their kids with the wages they earn.
“It makes my day,” Schwieger said of distribution day.
Marissa Marez, 21, said she initially volunteered to help at the food locker because she wanted to support her Adult Transition Program teacher, Schwieger, who launched the helping-hand program. As time passed, however, she came to enjoy the work, she said.
“I think it’s a good opportunity to help other people who don’t have food,” she said.
Added Marquis Flores, 20: “Actually, it makes me feel good just to help people. I feel great.”
Victor Ramos, 18, said his favorite task is to take bags of groceries to patron’s cars. “It’s fun,” he said, smiling.
Joey’s Food Locker is dedicated to the memory of Joel Michael Schwieger Jr., son of the Adult Transition Program leader and his wife, Darian. “Joey” was born with autism and died at a young age, 30, but he continues to inspire his parents and those who knew him.
(Note: AS NUSD’s Silver Anniversary nears, this is one in a series of stories spotlighting changes made through the years to support student success.)
