Students, employees volunteer at mobile food pantry
More than 65,000 pounds of food have been provided to members of the Citrus College community, thanks to regular visits from the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank.
Starting in May 2017, Citrus College periodically hosts visits from the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank's mobile food pantry. The college pays $600 for each visit, which is designed to help alleviate hunger on campus and within the surrounding community.
"The purpose of the mobile food pantry is to get food to the people who need it most," said Dr. Maryann Tolano-Leveque, dean of students. "Students and community members are asked to sign in and provide their name, the number of people in their household and their address. Recipients are qualified based on their annual household income, but the food is mostly distributed on the honor system."
To date, the mobile food pantry has come to Citrus College 13 times. The most recent visit took place on Oct. 22. Employee and student volunteers are tasked with distributing food and making sure the process moves quickly and smoothly. Each event has drawn nearly 300 people from the college community and has distributed an average of 500 cases of food.
The mobile food pantry's presence on campus comes at a time when food insecurity among community college students is making national headlines. A study issued by the Urban Institute in 2017 found that households with two-year college students were more likely to go without adequate nutrition.
"As a college of completion, Citrus College is dedicated to removing any barriers that students may face in realizing their academic goals. Feeding hungry students is not only a moral issue, it is also an academic issue," said the college superintendent/president. "I am proud that Citrus College is doing what it can to address this challenge because it represents one more step toward ensuring that all students have the same opportunity to achieve their goals."
This article originally appeared in the November 2018 edition of the Citrus View.