‘It’s here for you’: Winthrop offers free meals to help students facing food insecurity
As U.S. inflation reached a 40-year high over the summer, food prices across the country increased by 9% in 2022’s first seven months, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. While most Americans have felt the impacts of inflation, some are feeling it more than others — especially those facing food insecurity.
And college students make up a good portion of that group.
Roughly 41% of students at four-year institutions experienced food insecurity, or did not have reliable access to food, at some point during their college career, according to a survey conducted in 2019 by Temple University’s Hope Center for College, Community and Justice.
Winthrop University, in partnership with its dining services provider Sodexo, is working to help those students.
For every meal plan sold, Sodexo donates one free meal swipe to its its Swipe Out Hunger program, creating a bank of swipes for students to anonymously redeem at any campus dining hall. The meal swipes are added to a student’s ID and may be used like a regular meal plan at any location that accepts Eagle meals.
“It doesn’t show up different on anybody’s end and it’s totally anonymous, so students can get free meals, make sure they’re well-fed, nourished and doing well in school,” Vanessa Reyna, who represents Sodexo, said.
The Rock Hill school first introduced Sodexo’s program at the end of last year’s spring semester, Assistant Dean of Students Miranda Knight said. At first, the program was offered to a handful of students. Now, Winthrop is working to make sure the program is available to all those who need it, Knight said.
“We did have some students who were able to get meals last semester and now we’re really doing a big launch,” she said.
The program isn’t intended to be a year-long solution, Knight said. Rather, it’s meant to assist students temporarily as they work with university administrators to come up with a long-term plan. Knight encourages students to check in with her in order to find the best solution.
“If they come in and they’re like, ‘Hey, I get paid Friday and I just need a little help for a couple days,’ that is a different conversation and a different amount of meals that we would give them versus, ‘Hey, I am really struggling right now. I just lost my job. I might need meals for a couple of weeks,’” she said.
‘Patchwork quilt’
On top of Sodexo’s program, Winthrop has other options aimed at assisting students who may be food insecure, Knight said. The university’s efforts to address food insecurity first started several years ago with an administrative assistant in the Student Activities Office, she said.
“She listened to the students and realized, ‘Oh, gosh, this one hasn’t eaten today or this one doesn’t have money this week,’ and she always had some snacks, like candy or maybe granola bars,” Knight said. “Then, she got a little bit more, like food donations or things that she would bring in from her own pantry. She kept it in a drawer and she would give it to students.”
The drawer quickly turned into a shelf.
“Now, I wouldn’t call it a full on food pantry, but in the Dean of Students Office, we call it like a food shelf or a snack shack,” Knight said.
The university’s Department of Human Nutrition has a donation-based food pantry, known as The Food Box, for students to get needed items. The department also has a community garden, and on Wednesdays, the department holds a free farmers market for students.
“I call it a patchwork quilt,” Knight said. “There was no formal process that we started. It was like, ‘Oh gosh, here’s a need. We need to fill it.’ And we went from the candy drawer to the snack drawer to the food shelf to the food shelf and the food box.”
The university also requires first- and second-year students to live on campus and those students must have a meal plan, Knight said.
“Part of the reason for that is if a student has a meal plan, we know they have access to food,” she said. “That is another way that we combat food insecurity.”
‘Break down those stigmas’
While the Winthrop administrators are aware food insecurity is prevalent, Knight said they aren’t exactly sure how many of its students are actually facing it. She said unless a student notifies the university, it’s difficult to know.
“It could be in the dozens,” Knight said. “It could be in the hundreds.”
That’s why she encourages students to talk with her or another school official they trust.
“We’re trying really hard to break down those stigmas,” Knight said. “We don’t want students to be embarrassed. We don’t want them to feel like they can’t come for help.”
Knight said that’s why university’s administrators are also working to let more students know about Sodexo’s program.
“We’re trying really hard to make sure they know that it’s here, that it’s for them, that they don’t need to think like, ‘Oh, somebody probably needs it more than me,’” Knight said. “Nope, it’s here for you and we can get more.”
Knight said any student who may feel they’d benefit from the Swipe Out Hunger program or one of the university’s other options can reach out to her.
Individuals can also donate to the nutrition department’s The Food Box and drop items outside the department’s main office at 302 Dalton Hall.
