The neatly arranged rows of boxed and canned foods, diapers and wipes, laundry detergent and other household goods make a statement that this pantry is tended to by someone who cares deeply about its appearance and its purpose,
That someone is Latrice Gooden, a student volunteer at the Food For Thought pantry at the Abilene campus of Cisco College.
At 50, Gooden has lived through more life experiences than many college students. Her husband is on a waiting list for a heart and lung transplant. She has had brain surgery. Gooden and her husband are raising a grandson, 17, while Gooden is striving to finish an associate degree in general studies in time to graduate in May.
Besides volunteering in the school’s food pantry, Gooden also works in the dual credit office. She does it all, not with complaint but with a cheerful spirit and grateful heart. She understands why the food pantry at Cisco College is so important. She not only is responsible for the pantry’s tidy appearance, she also is a customer of the free goods on the shelves.
“I know it gets hard sometimes between paychecks,” Gooden said.
A big problem, researcher finds
Gooden doesn’t know it, but she could be one of the faces in a study on food insecurity among college students that was conducted in the spring by Shannon Que, an Abilene Christian University student.
Que was one of three college students nationwide awarded the Shared Justice Student-Faculty Research Prize from the Center for Public Justice, a Christian civic education and public policy research organization based in Washington, D.C.
Students were invited to propose a research topic and three were awarded the prizes in February. The prizes provided financial assistance to conduct research. The award also made it possible for Que and her faculty adviser, Stephen Baldridge, to travel to the center and for Que to participate in several conferences to present her findings, including at Baylor, Calvin University in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and in Indianapolis.
For the study, Que surveyed Abilene’s three four-year universities, plus Cisco College and Texas State Technical College. She also referenced national statistics showing that about 25 percent of students at four-year universities and 56 percent of students at community colleges reported being food insecure. T
he findings, both nationally and locally, came as a surprise.
“I didn’t know just how prevalent it was,” Que said. “I knew it was a problem but I didn’t know how systemic and how big.”
Do students know help is available?
Que graduated in May with a bachelor’s degree in social work and minors in Bible, missions and ministry, global studies and public administration. She now is working on a master’s degree in social work at ACU and is serving an internship with Abilene Independent School District’s McKinney-Vento Homeless Education Program.
Her research was conducted during the 2019 spring semester and her findings recently published by the center. As heady as the experiences have been since Que won the award, her head is firmly grounded in her work and what she can do to help, including making colleges more aware of assistance that is available for students.
One issue Que discovered was that college students and administrators often are unaware that students may be eligible for the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
“I don’t necessarily know that it’s anybody’s fault,” Que said. “Food insecurity kind of falls to the back or to the bottom of the priority list.”
Among Que’s sources was a report released in January by the Government Accountability Office that recommended increasing students’ awareness of federal food assistance benefits. The GAO report was based on the findings of 31 studies on food insecurity among college students. The report noted 57 percent of the 3.3 million students eligible for SNAP in 2016, the study year, did not receive benefits.
Que learned through her research that Abilene’s three church-affiliated universities offer assistance to some degree and many of Abilene’s churches help as they can. A handout provided at the Cisco College food pantry lists other local food pantries and free meals. Many of those listed are either churches or faith-based nonprofits.
McMurry offers Friends Closet
McMurry University has had a Friends Closet in place since 2007, Marty CashBurless, university chaplain and director of religious and spiritual life, said in an email.
The closet was started by a student who was experiencing food insecurity and was overseen by the Servant Leadership program. It later transitioned to the Religious and Spiritual Life office. CashBurless said in an email that the Friends Closet is stocked by groups and individuals.
“We are intensely aware that the need has increased a lot in the past several years,” she wrote.
Just this week, CashBurless said, she had a conversation with a student about the need to find a way to provide information to students who might be eligible for SNAP assistance.
“She agreed,” CashBurless wrote, “that it would be most useful for students like herself who qualify but need help with the application process.”
What HSU and ACU are doing
Coincidentally, at the same time Que was conducting her research last spring, another ACU student, Alex Bisson, was serving an internship in the counseling center at Hardin-Simmons University. A graduate social work student at ACU, she graduated in May.
Bisson began looking into food insecurity among HSU students when her supervisor in the counseling center asked for creative ideas to help serve the physical needs of people who had asked for assistance.
Bisson sent a survey to about 2,000 people, including faculty and students at HSU. Only 66 responded and of those, 60 percent replied that food insecurity was not an issue.
The university does not have a food pantry, but that doesn’t mean help isn’t available, Travis Craver, director of spiritual formation at Hardin-Simmons, wrote in an email.
“We, as far as food assistance goes, take it on a case by case situation,” Craver wrote, and make sure student needs are being met.
Responses from ACU were included in the study that Que conducted last spring. She quoted Lauren Boyles, assistant director of student advocacy at ACU who works with students experiencing financial, emotional, or spiritual distress. She has helped students with SNAP benefits and concurs with Que’s findings and national findings that more awareness is needed.
“We need more education about SNAP,” Boyles said in Que’s report.
Que also quoted Boyles and Grant Greenwood, director of admissions and recruiting at Hardin-Simmons University, about another issue. They agreed that many colleges and universities, including those in Abilene, lack data on students facing food insecurity and therefore are unable to offer assistance.
Food for Thought at Cisco College
Because of the high percentage of students at community colleges who acknowledge sometimes experiencing food insecurity, it isn’t surprising that one of the best programs for assistance locally is at Cisco College.
Martha Montgomery, who oversees the Food For Thought pantry operations as part of her director of development duties, makes sure information is in plain sight for students who use the food pantry. A cart in front of the food pantry door is moved to the opposite wall and loaded with canned goods from the pantry and informational handouts about local, state and national assistance. The canned goods serve an important role.
“The kids can see that and know we’re open,” Montgomery said.
The food pantry was started in 2012 by a former counselor, Linda Grant, who is now retired. It is supported by faculty, students, the community and with donations. The AVJ Foundation of Albany provided the initial seed money, Montgomery said.
Students are allowed to visit the pantry twice a month. A signup sheet is provided, with a space for the number of people in the family. It isn’t unusual to see “8” or “9” in that slot. A “Basic Food Bag Amounts” guideline is posted for each of the two monthly visits.
“It’s not set in stone,” Montgomery said.
Unlike some food pantries, the one at Cisco College is lenient. All that is needed to get assistance is a student ID. The usual questions about income levels are missing.
“We don’t ask a lot of those questions,” Montgomery said.
The power of popcorn
Twice in the fall and twice in the spring, Popcorn Day is featured to draw attention to the pantry and to the informational handouts on the cart. A popcorn machine is set up near the food pantry entry. The aroma of freshly popped corn is too much to ignore.
While students enjoy one of the bags of popcorn, Montgomery or other Cisco College personnel point to the food pantry and cart and answer questions.
On a recent Popcorn Day, Christina Ross enjoyed a bag and did some shopping in the food pantry. She lives with her parents, works two jobs and goes to school, which she is paying for.
“I tend to eat like one meal a day,” she said, because of money.
One of Ross’ jobs is in a grocery store but she usually doesn’t take a break for a snack because she can’t afford it. After a few minutes in the Cisco College food pantry, Ross left with bags filled with nutritious food, plus a treat.
“I got some munchies I can eat on the way to work,” she said.
Find Latrice - she has the key
Ross browsed the shelves of the Food For Thought pantry not long after Latrice Gooden had left to go to class. Ross and the other students at Cisco College have Gooden to thank for the pantry’s orderly, clean appearance.
The pantry is dear to Gooden’s heart and it shows.
If the pantry is closed when a student stops by, everyone at the college knows that if they locate Gooden, she will come with a key and let the student in to shop. She knows how much the extra food from the pantry helps her and her family and she wants to make sure other students get the help they need, too.
Her reward for all the volunteer hours she puts in comes from the comments students make when they leave with a couple of bags full of food and maybe some laundry detergent or diapers for a baby.
“Thank you — this is a lifesaver,” they tell her. “I can make it through the week.”
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