Food Insecurity Issues For Community College Students Being Answered

Food insecurity for community college students is a lingering problem on campuses.

Vol State Public Relations Coordinator Eric Melcher said the school started its food pantry, called The Feed, when its own data showed this was affecting its students. Melcher said the pantry is available on all campuses, to all students.

“We want to make sure that doesn’t interfere with their college education,” Melcher said. “It’s really hard to be able to focus on your studies when you’re hungry and if you’re worried about having money for groceries, that’s a real problem.”

Melcher said all a Vol State student needs to do to use the food pantry is visit the schools website and fill out a questionnaire form. Melcher said there are also hygiene and baby products available to students.

“We don’t ask for a lot, they do have to fill out an application that can be found on our website,” Melcher said. “If they just put The Feed into the search bar on the right hand side, they’ll be able to pull it up.”

Melcher said the school has worked to expand the pantry every year since its inception. He said The Feed is run by the school’s student services program and functions off of monetary donations to the Vol State Foundation fund.