(Photo by David Lane via Flickr)
Some secrets are hard to keep, but secrets that may save someone life need to be told.
In Tennessee, the six state-funded schools have unique stories that lead to the creation of their on-campus resources for students facing more challenges than studying and writing papers.
While most college students struggle with work and class schedules, others wonder where they will get their next meal from. Instead of asking for help, most students suffer in silence. Food insecurity.
In 2014, a student was attending the University of Memphis saw a bright future ahead of her.
At 21, however, she was diagnosed with Stage Four bone cancer.
After her hospital bills began piling up, she found it harder to feed herself on a day-to-day basis. She reached out to one of her history professors, Amanda Savage, who, eventually, became the coordinator of the University of Memphis’ food pantry.
Savage had to face a moral dilemma: “How do I help this student who is in need without crossing unprofessional boundaries?”
On the University of Memphis’ campus, students, faculty and staff have access to Clio’s Closet, which offers free clothes, food and toiletries to those in need.
“We are not in a position to evaluate if someone needs something,” said coordinator Amanda Savage. “When I see food missing, I know it’s changing someone’s life.”
According to the 2017 study conducted by the United States Department of Agriculture, Tennessee ranks above the U.S> average in food insecurity.
“Some students don’t appear on paper to be food insecure,” said MTSU Coordinator Becca Seul.
Middle Tennessee State University created its food pantry in 2012 after seeing the foster care and homeless student population increase on campus.
MTSU’s pantry not only provides food for students but access to on-site counselors.
“We target different groups, their needs and the resources to fulfil them,” said Seul.
In 2012, Tennessee Technical University conducted a random survey about hunger that asked questions like whether students knew someone experiencing hunger problems or understood the benefits of having an on-campus pantry.
The university began planning its food pantry after looking at data it received from the financial aid office, which showed a percentage of students who were at or below the poverty level based on grants and information they put on the Federal Assistance Form for Student Aid, known as the FASFA.
“We only serve Tennessee Technical constituents. They are required to fill out a form, but it is not so much to screen who is coming or prove they need to use the pantry. It’s more for us to keep track of who is using the pantry,” said coordinator Kaitlin Sayler.
On campus, TTU’s food pantry is slowly changing the stigma.
“The more familiar and comfortable people have become with using the food pantry allows them to be advocates. Students share with others the problems they were facing and how the food pantry helped them through it,” said Sayler.
Austin Peay State University was the first Tennessee college to create a campus food pantry. A group of students created the S.O.S. (Save Our Students) food pantry on-campus after they received data from social work students who performed a needs assessment in the community. Their data showed that a portion of the students were using food banks in surrounding counties.
“If we can help our own students, it will alleviate some of the stress the food banks were feeling,” said coordinator Alexandra Wills.
The S.O.S. food pantry is an ongoing campus-wide project. Ninety-five percent of the donations come from faculty, staff and students. Many organizations on campus host big food drives to support the pantry.
“After a nutrition class volunteered at the pantry and expressed how unhealthy it was to have so much sodium in the products, they requested land from the university to have fresh garden beds and chickens, so the pantry can provide fresh vegetables and fruit.” said Wills.
The university has filed for a grant through the U.S. Department of Agriculture for greenhouses so it can provide fresh vegetables and fruit all year.
According to the 2014 Hunger in America study, 31% of college students reported choosing between education and food.
Bucky’s Pantry on East Tennessee State University campus was created after two students research data showed the difficulties college students were having going hungry.
“We contacted other schools with food pantries and developed a program of our own on the basis of how do we help our students,” said student volunteer coordinator Helen Jones. “The numbers for the food pantry are increasing from year to year; we speculate that is because students are becoming more aware there is a food pantry on campus.”
Currently, Bucky’s food pantry offers nonperishable food items. In the future, it will relocated to a larger location which will allow more food and nice clothing for job interviews.
University of Tennessee in Knoxville has Smokey’s pantry, which is funded and run by several campus groups. Smokey’s has the resources to supply students in need with a week’s worth of groceries. Although food can’t cure all the problems individuals may face, their staff focuses on building relationships with students.
Food insecurity is an issue on college campuses nationwide, with causes ranging from financial to circumstantial. Luckily, most of the state-funded colleges in Tennessee offer resources on campus.
(Names of students were undisclosed for privacy reasons)