ST. PAUL, Minn. – For decades, cash-poor American college students have joked about their "ramen noodles diet" – but now more than ever, students say they have to choose between buying food and paying tuition. A first-of-its-kind federal government report found nearly two million college students are hungry.

Frankie Becerra is president of the student advocacy group – LeadMN: College Students Connecting for Change – and attends Century College in White Bear Lake. He works full-time to pay for a college education he feels will help him climb the economic ladder, but wonders how many people know that hunger can hamper success.

"I don't think that necessarily people would say, ‘Oh no, that doesn't happen,’” says Becerra. “I just don't think they know the severity of it, and how little resources there are on some campuses, because it can be a very embarrassing and demoralizing situation."

Becerra says his two-year community and technical college has a food pantry that students can access up to twice a month. The federal report says nearly 60 percent of low-income college students who are potentially eligible for food assistance did not report participating in a program in 2016.

Riverland Community College student and LeadMN Vice-President Oballa Oballa grew up in Kenyan refugee camps, and says many of the food packages they received were stamped 'U.S.A.'

As a result, he thought hunger didn't exist in America.

"This is not any different than what I've been going through in the refugee camp, where I only get one meal for one day or two days – and sometimes have to go without it,” says Oballa. “So, I cry inside – as a young man, I have that stigma whereby I feel ashamed to ask someone else for food."

The 26-year old Oballa is pursuing a degree in Human Services and has been active in bringing a food pantry to his campus.

"It's up and running now and the line never stops,” says Oballa. “Every day, students are lining up and they're really benefiting from it. So, through that food pantry, my grades went up because I don't have to focus on food, I'm only focusing on getting up my grade."

Oballa says the Riverland Community College food pantry now feeds about 400 students a month.


get more stories like this via email

This year's Food to Power Harvest Festival marks 10 years since Colorado Springs residents launched a food rescue project to get fruits and vegetables to areas of the city without accessible grocery stores.

Patience Kabwasa, executive director of Food to Power, said the fun and fundraising event set for Sept. 23 will help fuel a new decade of capacity building for services still very much in demand. She noted prior to the pandemic, one in six Coloradans did not know where their next meal would come from. The numbers are worse now.

"Today in Colorado it's about one in three," Kabwasa reported. "The need for fresh food, particularly, is at an all-time high, and that just continues to grow."

This year's Harvest Festival will take place at the Hillside Community Food Hub, which opened last year. The hub is the culmination of six years' work with community residents to imagine and create a facility which now features gardening education, a producing farm, a demonstration kitchen, events venue, and a no-cost grocery store.

The grocery program has seen a surge in demand after pandemic-related supply chain disruptions, along with claims of price gouging, led to spikes in food prices. Kabwasa explained volunteers collect food from a variety of community partners "just in time," and families receive fresh produce, dairy and meat within 72 hours.

"We partner with different grocery stores and farm stands, and take the excess that is not able to be sold by the expiration date," Kabwasa outlined. "We're able to redistribute that to the community."

With food insecurity impacting families across Colorado, Food to Power's grassroots organizing model could offer a blueprint for other communities. Kabwasa emphasized it all starts by identifying what people actually need, and then building relationships with food producers, grocery stores, and other stakeholders to remove barriers separating healthy food from families.

"You cannot do it without the buy-in from that community," Kabwasa stressed. "Being able to hear what the needs are, specifically, from those community members, and mobilizing resources based upon what you heard."


get more stories like this via email

Anti-hunger advocates are pressing Congress to fully fund WIC, the food benefit program for expectant mothers and children younger than 5. Conservatives in the House of Representatives have proposed a budget for WIC of $5.5 billion. The Senate proposal is $6.3.

Sarah Diaz, policy and media coordinator with the California WIC Association, explained the program would need a billion dollars more than that to be fully funded.

"We would love for the House to reconvene and try to work out a budget that fully funds WIC so that they're able to serve all eligible participants and one that accounts for the projected increase in WIC enrollment," she continued.

There is also the question of the Food and Vegetable benefit, which was raised to $25 to $49 per person per month during the pandemic in accordance with recommendations
from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine. The GOP proposal would drop it down sharply to $11 to $15 per person per month, which is slightly higher than pre-pandemic levels.

More than 930,000 mothers, infants and toddlers depend on WIC benefits in the Golden State. Diaz offered a report from the Center for Budget Policy and Priorities that found if the current GOP proposal passes - more than 100,000 Californians would wind up on a waiting list.

"In the '90s, there were waiting lists, and that had a major chilling effect. So people will choose not to go to WIC if they think they're taking somebody else's spot, even if they really need the program. And that means that we won't be serving everyone who needs it," she said.

Congress has to pass an appropriations bill or a continuing resolution by September 30th in order to avoid a government shutdown.


get more stories like this via email

With back-to-school season here, Minnesota is implementing no-cost meals for all students, regardless of family income.

As districts prepare, some reminders are being floated to parents. The state Legislature approved "universal meals" for schools this past session.

Leah Gardner, policy director for Hunger Solutions Minnesota, said parents no longer face the burden of having to fill out paperwork to ensure their child has access to these meals, or worry about whether they are eligible.

She noted families still might be asked to voluntarily complete applications, because of the broader benefits connected to tracking participants.

"That is often tied to a school's funding and a family being able to get other forms of relief from paying fees, and various things like that. It's still important for a variety of reasons," Gardner explained. "But thankfully, it's not the 'be all, end all' to whether a child's going to eat that day."

The Minnesota Department of Education said all public school districts will be participating in no-cost meals, covering 880,000 students. It is unclear how many private schools will take part, but Gardner has observed some of them making the transition, because of the benefits to both students and a school's operations. After-school snack programs are not part of the initiative.

As more families face pressure from their grocery budgets, Gardner encouraged households, especially those who have never used the program before, to keep an open mind about taking advantage of these meals.

"They might be surprised about how much a district is doing around, you know, allergy considerations, making sure that meals are healthy, fresh, culturally appropriate, you name it," Gardner outlined.

She added those approaches might help a student discover foods they've never tried before. The meals are still connected to the National School Lunch Program, so they must meet a nutritional standard.

Minnesota is now among eight states to have taken steps to expand no-cost breakfasts and lunches to all students.