JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. (WVLT) -- The shelves are empty at The Store on Carson-Newman's campus, but they hope the community will help pack the pantry.
Students fill a truck after a food drive on the Carson-Newman University campus. (Source: Kyle Grainger, WVLT)
Carson-Newman ROTS members moved boxes of food from collection spots on campus Friday to their home at the new campus store. Their hard work is to help feed fellow students.
"For a lot of the college students it's really a shock, especially for freshman when they get here. It's their first time away from home. I mean it's really for you providing for yourself and cooking on your own," said Austin Stooksbury, Senior ROTC Cadet.
Stooksbury said most of their money is spent on tuition and books, leaving very little for other stuff.
"And it gives us a variation where healthy food is a lot more expensive than just going through a fast food and I think the health promotion here is also beneficial," he added.
An on-campus competition this week will give a good start to fill the shelves. But the university hopes the community will embrace the concept just as they did the new campus thrift store so the students have everything they need to be successful.
"It will be an ongoing venture for us to make sure we always have food on our shelves. Not just our Carson-Newman community but our community at large," said Gloria walker, Student Success Director. "It's about making sure our students are successful and if they're hungry I think that that is a deterrent to them being successful, so we want to make sure we're providing them with every resource that we can possibly provide."
With a belief that if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content.
"Maybe it's a can of food to them, but to us it's a lot more. It's one less thing we have to worry about and that one less thing could promote more time and a better mental health to focus on our future," Stooksbury said.
Nearly half of all college students don't have the food they need to make it at some point in their academic career.
