The road to a college degree for college students from working class families is not easy – balancing working a part-time job, going to classes, and getting enough to eat.
Living on Ramen soup, boxes of macaroni and cheese, and canned ravioli while figuring out how to pay the rent can make them doubt their decision to get an education and a chance at a fulfilling career.
Due to the high cost of tuition at four-year universities, many students choose to start their academic journey at a community college – and the Rowan College of South Jersey (RCSJ) has been giving them a helping hand since 2017 when the Food Pantry at the Deptford campus in Gloucester County was created in partnership with the American Association of Women in Community Colleges.
“Recent data shows that a high percentage of students are facing food insecurity and are undernourished,” said Samantha Van Kooy, associate vice president for Community Engagement and Human Services at RCSJ.
At no cost, students can get a grab and go snack, a food voucher for the campus cafeteria and even meals to take home, said Van Kooy, a 2006 graduate of Washington Township High School who earned her undergraduate and Master’s degree in Higher Education Administration at Rowan University in Glassboro.
“We don’t turn any student away,” Van Kooy said, adding that once a month students can get a full bag of groceries. “They can walk into the Wellness Center at any time and meet with a case manager. We use this conversation to assess if they have any other needs.”
The Food Pantry is open every day, and also offers basic hygiene products and toiletries as well as household items like paper towels and all-purpose cleaning items.
“We try to be responsive to the students’ needs,” she said, pointing out that RCSJ eventually institutionalized the Food Pantry and created a second one at the Vineland campus in Cumberland County in 2019.
The pantry director at both campuses is Kristen Wilson, Van Kooy said.
“Just the two of us, Kristen and I, started the first pantry as a volunteer project,” she explained. “The amount of support we’ve gotten from the college administration has been incredible. They see the importance of this. It is hard for students to focus if their basic needs are not being met.”
On Sept. 22, RCSJ announced its participation in “Feed the Future: Fight Student Hunger,” a statewide initiative to combat student food insecurity at New Jersey’s community colleges.
The campaign was launched during National Hunger Action Month, and is a partnership of New Jersey’s Community Colleges, the Future Alumni Support Team (FAST), and the New Jersey Council of County Colleges (NJCCC).
“This initiative will help us raise awareness and help us raise funds,” said Van Kooy, adding that food insecurity is a significant barrier to student success. A survey of the community colleges in the state found that 39% of students were “food insecure.”
Feed the Future: Fight Student Hunger aims to ensure students can focus on their studies without worrying about where their next meal will come from.
“At Rowan College of South Jersey, we understand that a student’s success is about more than just what happens in the classroom,” said Dr. Brenden Rickards, interim president of RCSJ.
“Helping our students meet their basic needs, such as access to food, is critically important to ensuring they can complete their education and achieve their goals.
“We are proud to be a part of this collaborative statewide effort,” he said.
The mission statement of the new initiative is to “provide crucial philanthropic support for New Jersey’s community colleges’ food pantries and nutrition centers, ensuring community college students have the holistic support they need to succeed academically and professionally. Feed the Future: Fight Student Hunger provides a simple way for donors to make a direct impact. Funds are being raised through the online platform Spotfund.com.
Donors can visit the website, https://www.spotfund.com/teams/njccc, choose to support RCSJ, and all funds raised will go directly to RCSJ to support its campus food pantry.
