HARRIMAN, Tenn. — Roane State Community College is participating in the 26th annual Tennessee Board of Regents' Food Drive Challenge.
The friendly competition against other community colleges is intended to support student food pantries on campuses. Lisa Steffensen, Roane State's dean of students, said it's a problem across Roane's campuses.
"The last numbers I saw were about 29% of community college students experience food insecurity. And then you start adding into that housing insecurity, the number of students who are couch surfing or staying with relatives or family members, and the basic needs are great for our students," Steffensen said.
She said Roane State began to tackle food insecurity by opening a food pantry on its Cumberland County campus in 2017. Three more full-service pantries have followed since, with the rest of the campuses providing some option to get food while on campus.
"When students ask for food it's easy, because we have so many food pantries and we are blessed to be so well staffed, and so well stocked, that we're able to provide groceries for our students," she said.
Roane State's network serves about 300 people per month and no longer handles just food insecurity, she said.
That's where Casey Clark, Roane State's student support advocate, comes in.
"So, I try to find their greatest need first. We have the breakdown and that'll be food for the month, or they lost their job and don't have a rent payment for that month," Clark said.
Elaine Streno, the executive director of Second Harvest Food Bank of East Tennessee, said her organization partners with Roane State to provide some of the food in its pantries. Their partnership is one slice of a larger, persistent problem for many East Tennesseans.
"200,000 (people). Now, that doesn't mean they're all depending on any pantry that Second Harvest supports, but it is a prevalent challenge," Streno said.
She and Steffensen said East Tennessee's caring Volunteer Spirit has made their jobs easier. Whether through regular donations or by accepting students on campus who do use the food pantry, East Tennessee neighbors help keep their shelves stocked all year.