Studying while hungry
by Izzy Alvarez
On a white wall “Gator Groceries” is painted in large burnt orange letters. Tucked between iNoodle and arcade games inside the Pyramid, a food cupboard holds loads of canned and dried goods. A serpentine line of students wraps around the tables inside the Cesar Chavez Student Center’s lower recreation and dining level. They’re waiting to collect some emergency food for the week. As they reach the cupboard of food a tall wooden table has samples of the groceries being provided that day. LaCroix, ramen instant noodles and canned foods are displayed next to white cards with dry erase markers. Students next in line write down their food choices and hand it to a volunteer. A box is made with their groceries of choice. All food is free for students.
“I’ve seen students come here and be hungry, I’ve seen them not being able to afford, I’ve seen students dig out of the garbage can.” Horace Montgomery said.
Montgomery, with a faint hint of gray hair tied back, pushed for the food cupboard this year as an emergency food supply for students. With over a decade’s worth of experience in Associated Students, AS, Montgomery is currently serving as interim Executive Director. Through that time he has helped start the organic farmers market on Thursdays to offer nutritional options to students. As well as spearheading the main food pantry which distributes a weeks worth of food to eligible students in the annex next to the campus police station first opened in March of 2017. It all revolves around students access to healthier eating for Montgomery.
“Us paying attention to the notion that eating a bunch of salts and sugars aren’t really helping them. It wasn’t really helping their schooling,” Montgomery in his orange Giants sweatshirt, said, “It wasn’t helping them learn. It wasn’t helping them with their environment and their stress level.”
A common social belief in America is that a university degree is a sure way to economic sustainability. In a time where housing and tuition prices have risen for college students, food insecurity is often overlooked. In 2018, the California State University, CSU, did a study around students’ basic needs. Through the basic needs initiative surveys were conducted and found that 41% of students reported food insecurity. According to one of the study’s suggestions, campuses should create awareness of student adversity. After the study, AS and the Health Promotion and Wellness, HPW, center are campaigning to spark consciousness around food insecurity on campus. The cupboard is just one of many resources SFSU has started offering to meet students basic needs on campus.
In the age of technological advancements, social media has become a tool in spreading awareness amongst students. In fact, Dr. Zubaida Qamar, an assistant professor in the college of Health and Social Sciences, has started a research campaign on the food insecurity at SFSU through Instagram. The account, @savorandsucceed, is scribbled in chalk around campus walkways to garner attention from students. Some of the chalk messages read “follow for free food,” and the account posts information about events on campus that offer free food. Qamar is using technology to bridge the gap between students’ basic needs and the number one social media platform they use most.
“So far we have some initial data that we can look and see what future direction we have to move in,” Qamar said of her project, “whether it’s going to be food waste efforts that we may need to focus on, whether it’s nutrition interventions that we need to focus on, whether it’s promotion of these resources that exist.”
Another part of her current data from the campaign, she said, revealed that students want a single source to the services provided on campus such as their professors. This is another suggested method to raise cognizance on campus from the CSU study.
“I hope that we are able to maybe work towards reducing those barriers, whether it’s stigma, whether it’s access, whether it’s any of these other issues.” Qamar said, “So we can hope to get a little bit closer towards becoming food secure.”
Using Instagram alone made this data possible and the ease that technology will bring is going to make it simpler for students to gain access to free food resources on campus. Montgomery is also incorporating technology at the food pantry to efficiently serve students faster in their busy lives. The emergency food cupboard and the main pantry jointly represent Gator Groceries. Marin Food Bank is partnered with the school to provide all of the food for both the pantry and cupboard.
“We’ve already made some partnerships with Salesforce and other like minded companies,” Montgomery said, “that want to come help food insecurity and want to come help us put a dent into this big problem that we’ve been ignoring for a long time.”
The technology will replace the whiteboard markers and cards,which will help distribute food quickly and discreetly to students. However, social media is the most powerful tool reaching students about the pantry and other food resources on campus. The San Francisco State University Student Nutrition and Dietetic Association, also known as SNDA, has an account on Instagram that focuses on students helping other students. In the account bio on Instagram a link can be found that will send students directly to a website with additional information on healthcare and nutrition. Tina Nguyen, the newsletter editor and website coordinator for SNDA, is majoring in dietetic nutrition science and does most outreach either through Instagram or tabeling on campus.
“The idea of meeting other students and having students peer educate each other is very popular.” Nguyen, 22, said, “And it just so happens that the SNDA also brings a unique twist to the table where we do so many different cooking demos, like there’s options for vegans, vegetarians, there’s options for eating healthy on a budget.”
SNDA’s cooking demos have become a regular occurrence at the farmers market on Thursdays. Nguyen said the cauliflower mash that she posted on Instagram received the most likes than anything she’s posted so far. The cultural aspect of food is not a commonly thought factor. According to the CSU system’s main findings on marginalized groups, 65.9% of African American and first-generation college students reported suffering from food insecurity.
“Food is a very important part of culture and when you’re addressing food security and if students have affordable nutritious food to eat or access. You also have to consider student identity, is this the type of food that they’re used to?” Nguyen, who is Viatnamese, said, “An Americanized diet might fulfill me, but it wouldn’t fulfill me spiritually or mentally and it wouldn’t really make me feel happy.”
SNDA isn’t the only organization on campus promoting cooking skills. HPW has started free cooking classes for students. Danielle Lundstrom, a nutrition health educator on campus at HPW, is leading these cooking classes. Within room 406 of Burk Hall the counters are set with bowls, spatulas and measuring cups. Ingredients are placed next to them and students walk in to find work stations prepared. In this cooking lab Lundstrom teaches them how to make whole grain blueberry muffins and hard boiled eggs. Ovens are hot and producing a mouth watering blueberry aroma while the eggs boil. Each class is free for students and introduces different budget friendly recipes. Whether you are a seasoned cook or an amateur in the kitchen, the classes present easy step by step instructions.
“There’s a lot of evidence and research that points toward providing cooking as a skill based education and helps to make healthier eating choices,” Lundstrom soft spokenly said, “cooking at home, you can you have more control over what you’re eating and also helps to save a lot of money by having that skill to be able to prepare meals at home.”
As the dietician on campus, Lundstrom provides free nutritional counseling for students. Not many students are aware of her services provided through HPW. Since last fall, she’s seen a variety of students, but most of them are female. For now Lundstrom is trying to help students reach food literacy in an already stressful environment. In 2018 the United States Department of Agriculture released a study on food insecurity in American homes. The revelations of 11.1% homes living with food insecurity last year is a major improvement to 14.9% in 2011.
“We do have all these great resources for improving food insecurity and helping students access healthy and accessible food,” Lundstrom, 25, said, “as well as different educational resources or opportunities to build skills in different nutrition or cooking concepts.”
For the students that depend on the pantry to get through the week, the added cooking classes open new advantages for navigating living alone. TreVaughn Roach-Carter, attended his first cooking class with friends and was surprised by the vegan options provided. After coming across the food pantry he began using more of the available nutritional resources on campus.
“It helps out a lot just because money is very thin.” Roach-Carter, a first semester MFA student, said, “And with school costs and food, anything that can help spread out my money for groceries is very helpful. I didn’t have a job last year, so it probably saved me last year.”
Associate Students and SNDA along with HPW can be seen on Thursdays at the farmers market offering assistance to students interested in CalFresh. Gator Grub Alert through the SF State app notifies students of free food on campus. All of these campus organizations have brought their skills and knowledge together to fight the food insecurity that still looms around classrooms, dorms and off-campus. Whether it’s social media or tabeling on campus to reach students in need, they have a common goal to provide success for all students sitting hungry in a classroom.
“Students come here, whether they’re away from home or this is brand new, whether they got friends or don’t, whether they’re part of organizations or the school is just whooping their ass,” Horace Montgomery said, “being able to take off and one more stressor off that plate lightens the load. And that’s what we’re here to do.”
