CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (WVIR) – New help is on its way from Richmond to address food insecurity for Virginia’s college students.
Under the Hunger-Free Campus Food Pantry Grant Program, which Governor Glenn Youngkin signed into law last week, $500,000 will be distributed to schools that either have an on-campus food pantry or partner with one nearby.
“Students are still experiencing food insecurity, and they’re experiencing it as the cost of higher education increases,” said Anastasia Jones-Burdick, the graduate assistant for the University of Virginia’s Community Food Pantry. “We know students are choosing between textbooks and their next meal, choosing between medical care and their next meal. These problems don’t go away when you enter higher education.”
According to Jones-Burdick, 250 students at UVA rely on the food pantry on the first floor of Newcomb Hall in just one week. In a survey of incoming students, she says, 43% expressed having some concern about food security.
That’s why Jones-Burdick joined a group of advocates in Richmond during the General Assembly session to rally for an end to student hunger.
“There was an energy unlike anything I’ve ever seen before,” Jones-Burdick said. “Every day in the community food pantry, we see students that are very dependent on us to go to class and do their best on Grounds. So, when we were in Richmond, we were really there for the students who had to keep their head down, focus on where their next meal is coming from, and go to school.”
Any public or nonprofit college with a pantry or partnership with one can now apply for a portion of that $500,000 bucket.
“It is great recognition about the needs that students have, and a great resource that we look to tap into,” said Ridge Schuyler, the Dean of Community Self-Sufficiency Programs at Piedmont Virginia Community College.
Schuyler says students from Piedmont Virginia Community College also made the trip to Richmond during the legislative session to explain some of the barriers to their success, including a lack of food.
At PVCC, 24% of job seeking students say they do not have enough food to get through the month, while 5% say they don’t have enough to make it through the day.
PVCC’s pantry partners with the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank and also relies on donations, including from Bama Works. Schuyler says even a small portion of this grant money would be a welcome addition.
“We should be not just helping them with their tuition and their book fees, but we also need to help them with the other aspects of their life that may make it a challenge for them to complete what they start,” said Schuyler.
The State Council for Higher Education in Virginia will choose the grant recipients.
“I’m not sure what the future of this grant funding looks like, but I know it’ll encourage more conversations about food insecurity,” said Jones-Burdick, “and that is a win in and of itself.”
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