School nurse Leah Gehringer sees dozens of children every day in the health room at Tamaqua Elementary School.

Some come with tummy aches, or colds, or other ailments, such as an itchy, scratchy head from lice.

About 80 passed through her doors one Tuesday afternoon in October.

Among them were two children in need of a change of clothes due to accidents, a common problem in the younger grades.

And one little girl had a large hole in her shoe, Gehringer said.

Worn, duct-taped shoes is something she’s seen often in her four years in the Tamaqua Area School District.

Gehringer was able to give the girl a new pair of shoes thanks to the Nurse’s Pantry program, which is funded by the Schuylkill United Way.

The Nurse’s Pantry provides school nurses at Tamaqua Area and other districts throughout Schuylkill County with snacks and funding to buy things, such as extra clothes, shoes, hygiene products and lice kits.

Before the program, Gehringer and other school employees bought these types of items to help students and families in need, she said.

Something as simple as having a snack in the health room can solve the problem of an aching, empty belly and keep a student in class that day, Gehringer said.

“A lot of these kids come in and their belly hurts and it’s really because they didn’t eat,” she said. “It’s something simple I can give them and they can stay at school, which is nice.”

In addition to the snacks, Gehringer gets $1,000 a month to buy a set list of items that she can also provide, she said. Extra clothes and underwear are among those items, and needed in younger grades due to frequent accidents.

“They’re all supposed to have spare clothes in their backpacks, but they don’t,” Gehringer said. “And when you call parents and ask them to bring spare clothes, they’re working in Allentown or they can’t get here.”

Rather than make that child sit in the health room and wait, Gehringer can give them a change of clothes that she purchased with the United Way funding.

“I buy uniform clothes. I do buy some gym clothes, shorts and sweatpants that they can wear, if needed,” she said.

A lot of the $1,000 allotment goes toward lice treatment kits, which are expensive to buy, Gehringer said.

“Parents can’t afford to treat them, and I’m like, ‘Don’t worry. I have donations here. You can take it home, treat them with this and they can come back’ (to school),” she said.

Gehringer, who teaches a class on puberty every year, also buys feminine hygiene products for the older girls, she said.

The Nurse’s Pantry program also provides for the Catholic schools in the Tamaqua area, St. Jerome’s and Marian, she said.

“It’s a great program,” Gehringer said, noting that the health room does have a budget through the district, but it only covers so much.

“This program gives us a lot more,” she said. “It’s nice because I’m able to help the kids and the families more than I normal would be able to.

“There’s definitely a need in this area,” Gehringer said.

Kelly Malone, executive director of the Schuylkill United Way, is well aware of where the greatest needs in the community are, she said.

“We believe it makes a difference,” she said, of the program that began in 2020 during the COVID pandemic.

But it’s also an expensive program, Malone said. The United Way budgeted $17,000 countywide for the program and spent $22,000 so far this year, she said.

The Schuylkill United Way is in the midst of its 2024 Giving Campaign, which raises funds for programs such as the Nurse’s Pantry and supports its 15 partner agencies in the coming year, Malone said.

Tamaqua Area’s school nurses and their Nurse’s Pantries were featured in a video to kick off the campaign this year, showing how the United Way meets many needs in the communities it serves, she said.

School nurses not only help their students and families through the Nurse’s Pantry, but can also connect them to resources in the community to provide additional assistance, Malone said.

“That’s the nice thing about this program,” Gehringer said. “We can get more help for these kids and we can connect them with resources in the community.”