• Community Spirit: Nate's Pantry

When Elsinore High Schooler, Nate Belliveau, was a student at David A. Brown Middle School he had the idea of opening a "store", so to speak, where students, of modest means, would be able to get gently used clothing.

As seen on the school's marquee.

Though it didn't materialize until he was in high school, Marisa Couron and Abraham Esquer made his aspirations a reality and called it Nate's Pantry, in his honor.

Nate's first taste of extracurricular input came last year when he wanted to have a game room available on campus. He started by circulating a petition among the students and teachers, easy enough, but when he heard that the superintendent was coming to the school, he brought the petition to him... and he not only signed it, but they had a game room two days later. 

The idea for Nate's Pantry came about towards the end of last school year when he was speaking with Marisa, his teacher, and he had another petition for her to sign. She asked for some more details, and he explained that he'd like to see a store at the school, where kids that don't have much money, could come shopping for free, for things like clothes and school supplies. 

Link to Valley News version of this story

Marisa told him that it was too bad he was going off to high school or they could take on the project together.  Even without Nate being there the idea still took root. The first round of donations came after putting the word out at some of the local Wildomar Facebook pages.

The store is opened after school, Tuesdays and Thursdays, from 2:00pm to 3:00pm. They generally have more than thirty students come in each of those days. For those that ride the bus, they can come in on Wednesdays at lunch. 

They have what they call Super Saturdays, the first Saturday of the month, the October event had over 100 kids stop by. The next one will be on Saturday, November 2nd, between 8:00am and 12:00pm. At this point in time, Nate's Pantry is only offered to the students of David A. Brown Middle School.

Abraham added, "Our school, one Saturday a month, we get a whole bunch of teachers together and we have fun activities for the kids, with hand crafts, tie died shirts, making pancakes and having hot dogs." 

A good selection is available.

If you have gently used clothes or shoes, that aren't outdated, please reach out to Marisa Couron through her email or Nate's Pantry Facebook Group. 

Mrs. Couron is a teacher in the Special Needs Class Mild/Moderate. Mr. Esquer is a Paraeducator and coach, they’ve been working together for the last three years.

Nate's Pantry Facebook Group

Email Marisa Couron

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You are only young once, but you can stay immature indefinitely.

– Ogden Nash



Wildomar Rap vehemently pleads the 5th in regards to the above.

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