Roane State Community College

Dean of Students Dr. Lisa Steffensen, left, and the college’s student engagement coordinator Jennifer Fugate staff the farmer’s market-style setup for the first “Food Pantry On-the-Go” program.

October 23, 2020

By Bob Fowler
Roane State staff writer

Roane State’s new “Food Pantry On-the-Go” is addressing food insecurity among students during the pandemic. Following highly positive feedback from its initial effort on October 21, organizers expect the program to continue.

“We’ve already decided we will do this again,” Dean of Students Dr. Lisa Steffensen declared less than two hours into Wednesday’s event. “We’re really pleased with the turnout.”

The pilot event was held in the front parking lot of the community college’s Knox County Center for Health Sciences and received an enthusiastic welcome.

Roane State students from any of the college’s nine campuses had the opportunity to shop – for free – for a wide variety of non-perishable and microwavable food items from tables set up in “Farmer’s Market” style next to a college shuttle van.

It’s the latest effort by the college to help students who may have food insecurity issues that have only increased as the COVID-19 pandemic grinds on. Even before the virus swept through the country, statistics showed that at least 40 percent of students in higher education had some form of food insecurity.

The college has made concerted efforts to address that problem, including significant in-house food pantries at Roane State’s three largest campuses – in Roane County, Cumberland County and Oak Ridge.

“We know not everybody can get to those campuses regularly, so we want to try to make it more convenient for students,” Steffensen said. A date and location for the next mobile food pantry hasn’t been determined yet, she said, but will be announced as soon as it’s finalized.

Shopping was brisk during the initial venture, with many of the Health Sciences Center students taking advantage of the visit. “The students were so wonderful to interact with and we loved the opportunity to get to know some students we don’t get to see every day,” Steffensen said.

Lined up for shoppers were canned foods, cereals, noodles, sauce, snacks and peanut butter. Some of the favorites were fruit, green tea and “definitely Pop Tarts,” said student Jakob Strader. He’s the first student to work in the Food Pantry as part the college’s work-study program. “I’m here to help out the community,” he said.

Steffensen said questions about Roane State’s food pantry program can be emailed to raiderpantry@roanestate.edu. Additional details are available at roanestate.edu/foodpantry.