Carthage College Among First In State To Address Food Insecurity

KENOSHA, WI — About one-third of all college students are struggling to afford food and basic nutrition, according to a recent Government Accountability Office report.

One college campus is working to combat food insecurity among its students.

To help meet the need of struggling students, Carthage College’s Center for Faith and Spirituality is planning to open Luther’s Lunchbox, a new free stop-and-go supplemental food program for residential and commuter students. Luther’s Lunchbox will open in the A.F. Siebert Chapel on September 4, the first day of classes for the 2019-2020 academic school year.

“Luther’s Lunchbox is a result of our community coming together for the well-being and success of our students,” Emily Norman, a Carthage area coordinator said in a news release. “Students can’t truly learn if they’re hungry or wondering where their next meal will come from.”

To make sure students find lunch every day in a non-judgmental way, the lunchbox will shelve grab and go foods and point students towards four microwave stations across campus where they can heat up a meal during the day. The meal program will be available to students seven days a week.

This initiative is being made possible thanks to the Shalom Center in Kenosha which will donate most of the food. Additional non-perishable food items will also be collected from Carthage College faculty and staff. Trinity Lutheran Church in Kenosha also donated a cabinet for food storage.

A study cited by the American Psychological Association which surveyed 86,000 students from 123 U.S. educational institutions found that 41 percent of university and 48 percent of two-year college students reported food insecurity.

Other states, such as California, recently passed legislation that gives college students greater access to supplemental aid under a program called CalFresh for basic needs such as food.