RICHMOND, Ky. (LEX 18) — Around one in four college students experience some kind of food insecurity, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. At Eastern Kentucky University, that number changes to one in two.
As an assistant professor of food and nutrition, Dr. Abbigail Hickey wants to make sure her students stay fed.
“Seeing that students can be nourished while they’re in my class is really important,” Dr. Hickey said. "I mean we’re talking about food and nutrition, and if they can’t afford food, that’s really challenging.”
Dr. Hickey helped start the EKU Food Security Coalition, and as part of her research, she found that 50% of the students at EKU face some level of food insecurity.
“We really want to reduce that number,” Hickey added. “We don’t want it to be 50%. That’s very high. Anything that we can do to reduce that, we’re going to try.”
To try and fight food insecurity, EKU became the first college in Kentucky to accept SNAP benefits on campus.
“The fact that they recognized it, they implemented it, just being able to use something that I already have in a convenient way, it meant a lot the EKU as a whole saw a need and filled it,” said senior student Britanny Collins.
“We’re just doing our best to take some of that financial burden off of students when they come to college,” added Hickey. “Making it so that it can be easier for students to be on campus and to be present and to do well in school is really important to us at EKU.”
SNAP acceptance began this year in the Provisions On Demand (POD) Market. Benefits are only accepted at the Stratton POD, but EKU is working to expand to other areas of campus as well.
“The fact that you can use it on campus as a student, like that’s a pretty big deal,” said Collins. “I don’t have to go off and go to the grocery store per se for a quick snack. I can just use that here.”
While SNAP acceptance just started this October, EKU has been fighting food insecurity for years through the Colonel’s Cupboard as well, which just celebrated its 10th anniversary.
“Any student can go at any time that the Colonel’s Cupboard is open to get food,” said Hickey. “You do not have to provide proof of need, which is so important… We need to celebrate some of these milestones that we get, like getting SNAP benefits on campus or the 10th anniversary of the Colonel’s Cupboard because it’s such a big deal that we can offer that resource for students.”
As part of the anniversary celebration, EKU set a fundraising goal of $10,000 for the Colonel’s Cupboard. To donate or to learn more about the cupboard, click here.
