Food for Thought

From KPCC News: Thousands of California university students are seeking help each month from food banks and free meal programs as higher tuition and living costs squeeze their meager budgets... A biannual UC survey suggests the scale of the problem: from 2010 to 2014, roughly 50 percent of students said they skipped meals to save money “occasionally” to “very often.” And at UCLA, officials distributed in the last academic year some 3,884 meal vouchers for students in dire circumstances facing a food shortage. In 2012-2013, it gave out 7,562, and 4,652 the year before that. UC Irvine has budgeted for fewer than 100 in the first year of its voucher program. Food pantries for students are now open on most UC campuses, in part because of an effort started by President Janet Napolitano to help solve global and local hunger...

Napolitano's office said the tuition increase (proposed last fall) wouldn’t make student hunger worse because she wants to maintain or increase the amount of financial aid students receive now...

Five years ago, Methodist Church deacon Jeanne Roe Smith teamed up with students and UCLA administrators to start the 580 Café in a converted church office located across the street from UCLA. It is one of oldest programs created to address college student hunger in the area. The cafe stocks a refrigerator and shelves with donated granola bars, ramen, and prepared meals from nearby food businesses — and it serves free, hot meals...

Word-of-mouth is how students learn about UCLA’s Food Closet. It’s a room with barely enough room for what’s inside: a refrigerator, a tall metal cabinet, and a small table...“In the mornings, we definitely fill up for breakfast so it's oatmeal, pastries — we even have a woman who calls herself the Bagel Mom, and she brings donated foods,” said Dennis Santiago, a UCLA employee who coordinates the donations for the Food Closet. Santiago estimates thousands of students stop by the Food Closet each week. He said he's seen more students come by for food in recent years...

Full story at http://www.scpr.org/news/2015/03/09/50221/as-california-university-costs-rise-college-studen/

Also: http://uclafund.ucla.edu/yourimpact/giftsatwork/food-closet.aspx and http://dailybruin.com/2011/11/17/580_cafe_offers_struggling_students_free_food_develops_community/