Back to School: College Edition: Food Pantries
Category : Back to School, College Edition , Blog
College students know groceries are another expense & many can not afford this “luxury”.
There are 300 campus food pantries in the US but not enough to feed the students & not enough food options for a balanced variety.
According to The Atlantic’s article, The Hidden Hunger on College Campuses a stunning statistic, “Twenty-two percent of community-college students said they’d gone hungry due to lack of money.”
Photo: LSG
“According to data provided to the Tampa Bay Times, students struggling with food insecurity logged more than 16,000 visits in 2015 to special centers at USF, the University of Florida, Florida State University and the University of Central Florida.”
As a Speech-Language Pathologist who provides SLP services at this Center to college age students, works with college age volunteers, hires college age employees, I understand the financial challenges they face and have heard and seen it first hand.
Read more here from the Tampa Bay Times article about the significant but often unknown needs of our college students.
Photo: LSG
To locate a food pantry or learn how you can get involved, contact the College and University Food Bank Alliance, described as “a professional organization consisting of campus-based programs focused on alleviating food insecurity, hunger, and poverty among college and university students in the United States.”
In addition to campus food pantries, there are food banks which students can access in their town/city.
Support a local campus pantry & our students, donate to one near you! All of our “children” deserve to eat healthy meals daily!
Photo: LSG
Florida A & M University: Food Pantry
Florida Atlantic University: Beyond Food
Florida Gulf Coast College: Food Pantry
Florida Institute of Technology: Contact local food banks/pantry
Florida International University: Food Pantry
Florida State University: Food for Thought Food Pantry
Full Sail: Contact Student Advising Resource Office
Miami Dade College: Single Stop USA
Nova University: Contact local food bank/pantry
Tallahassee Community College: Eagles Nest Food Pantry
University of Central Florida: Knights Pantry
University of Florida: Field and Fork Food Pantry
University of Miami: For information, U Food & Well-Being
University of North Florida: Lend a Wing
University of South Florida: Feed-A-Bull Pantry
We will add to this list as we gain more information.
IF you do not see one for your campus, please search online, ask on campus, or contact the local food banks in your area.
With hunger often comes homelessness. This will be covered in a separate blog post in Back to School, College Edition!
“Together, we MUST make a difference!”