Around the United States, some college campuses are combating food insecurity by setting up food pantries.
Food insecurity is an official term from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to describe people not having enough to eat. According to a Feb. 19 article by CBS, the University of California has students lining up daily at their food pantry. There are around 800 food pantries on college campuses throughout the United States according to the article.
On Keene State College’s campus, the Hungry Owl provides resources to run pantries or satellites.
Senior Julia Beliveau, who is one of the student leaders of the Hungry Owl, says they try to engage with as many students as possible. She says students can combat food insecurity by raising awareness.
“Students could not only promote the Hungry Owl but spread awareness to break that stigma. Food insecurity can be stigmatized,” said Beliveau.
She went on to say promoting alternative eating choices can also be a big help in combating food insecurity and promoting healthier eating habits. She says she thinks there should be healthier food choices for students on campus.
“There needs to be healthier alternatives to all the fried foods,” Beliveau said.
She is not alone in wanting healthier options for food on campus. Senior Allison Gibbons is a student on campus who said she would like to see healthier food.
“I think there could be more options because as of right now there are the vegetarian options in the [dining commons] and a salad bar for the most commonly healthy things people could go towards,” Gibbons said. “When it comes to the comfort food or obviously burgers and pizza and stuff, that is not the most healthy in the world.”
Gibbons said she thinks the dining commons could use ways to make food healthier. She agrees they could provide healthier alternatives to the fried foods served or tweak the current food options to make them slightly healthier.
Another senior student leader of the Hungry Owl, Alexa Hurley, also said she would like to see healthier food options on campus. Hurley said the Hungry Owls is involved in providing healthier food options to Keene State College students.
“There is a lot of demand for healthy food on campus, but I feel that there is a low supply and that is why the Hungry Owl provides that supply for our students,” Hurley said.” I feel that with the food that is provided, you can see there is plenty, but we provide that extra support through the Hungry Owl.”
Additionally, Hurley said the Hungry Owl is very involved on campus with satellite locations provided all over different buildings on campus.
“We have some satellites in the gym and the library. We also do tabling events at the health fairs and we also do the biweekly produce event where we give produce to students every other week,” Hurley said.
Both Hurley and Beliveau are coordinators for the biweekly produce event. Hurley says students can do a lot to help the Hungry Owl by volunteering at the main location or by helping to stock satellites or running social media or marketing. Other opportunities can be made later to help in various ways, especially with the senior staff graduating. At the moment Hurley said the Hungry Owl is very well staffed.
Nico Brazill can be contacted at
nbrazill@kscequinox.com
