Ball State student food pantry aims to help with college food insecurity
Food insecurity knows no age. Schools across the country have seen many hungry students, and the need frequently doesn’t stop when they go to college. As IPR’s Ransom True reports, local colleges like Ball State University are devoting resources to help all students access food they need.
“I definitely don’t want somebody to be sitting there, doing homework, and they can’t focus on their paper because their stomach is growling.”
That’s Brianna Hatfield, Executive Director of Cardinal Kitchen, a food pantry located on Ball State University’s campus that is open to all students. Cardinal Kitchen is one of many food pantries that are established on college campuses across the United States in an effort to combat food insecurity.
A 2022 report published in the journal Frontiers of Public Health shows about 41 percent of college students face food insecurity. And those food-insecure students are 42 percent less likely to graduate.
“On a week to week basis, I want to know that all of our students are well fed and that they are able to get the most out of their education and their time here without having to think about where their next meal is coming from.”
Cardinal Kitchen is open on the last three Tuesdays of every month from 5:00 PM to 8:00 PM. The organization does track student use by asking for a student ID or ID number.
Ransom True is a news fellow with Ball State Public Media’s Public Media Accelerator student fellowships.