‘I see how hunger affects people I know’ When Kourtney Koch, ‘18, applied to run the new CMU Student Food Pantry, she didn’t realize she’d see her classmates showing up hungry and in need. “I’ve learned so much,” Koch said. “I see how hunger affects people I know. People in my classes. I didn’t know they were experiencing hunger.” Opening the food pantry in the fall of 2018 “brought light to the issue,” Koch said. “Hunger on campus is really a hidden issue,” said Koch, a graduate student studying higher education administration while she works at the food pantry 20 hours a week. “Or it’s normalized. The idea of the broke college student – people accept it rather than challenge it.”
Some pantry visitors live on campus but have the least expensive meal plan, Koch said, which is 10 meals a week. “So, Monday through Friday they have two meals a day, and on the weekends they have no meals, maybe just snacks,” she said. Some students are homeless and don’t have access to food. At the student food pantry, they take what they need, for free. Last year the pantry was open twice a week every other week, but that wasn’t enough, Koch said. This year it’s open three times every week for two hours at a time.
Students are encouraged to register ahead, but they can also just walk in. The only requirement is to be enrolled in classes, Koch said. Students don’t have to prove financial need. “They walk around and choose what they would like,” she said. On the shelves: pastas, sauces, canned soups and meats, canned fruits and vegetables, oatmeal, cereal, peanut butter and jelly, frozen meats, dairy products, fresh produce. The food is purchased from the Greater Lansing Food Bank with funding from donations. The cost to the CMU Student Food Pantry is about 20 cents per pound of food, Koch said. “So just a $1 donation buys five pounds of food,” she said.
Koch said the plan is to eventually offer toothpaste, cleaning supplies, paper towels and toilet paper, too. Last year 222 students visited the food pantry a total of 575 times. Koch expects those numbers to grow this year with greater access. She added questions about food insecurity to the survey CMU students take after graduation. Between 38% and 46% of students answered yes to questions such as, “Have you ever been hungry and not had food to eat?” and “Have you ever cut portions or skipped meals because you didn’t have enough food?” Some students who use the pantry come back to volunteer there, Koch said. “They want to give back.”
PHOTO BY STEVE JESSMORE/ STEVE JESSMORE PHOTOGRAPHY
Food insecurity on CMU’s campus “looks different from student to student, she said.
“Some come because they missed a paycheck or they’re between jobs at the moment and just need a little assistance.”
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Centralight Winter ’19