Sheldon, Iowa — More and more people have been depending upon food banks due to food insecurity in recent months and college students are not immune. Now Northwest Iowa Community College in Sheldon has established a food bank to help their students who are experiencing food insecurity.
NCC’s Thunder Cupboard has been established to help combat that problem. NCC’s Kristi Landis tells us more.
(As above) “Well, basically, the Thunder Cupboard is an initiative that was brought together by a number of employees here at the college, who wanted to make sure that our students are well taken care of. Basically, there are statistics nationwide that show 30% of college students are food insecure and about 1 in 5 college students are actually considered hungry. We want to make sure that there is nothing that would impair a student at Northwest Iowa Community College from being successful at their studies.”
We asked Landis how NCC students who are in need can access the Thunder Cupboard.
(As above) “A student reaches out to the Thunder Cupboard email, or they can let their advisor know that they are in dire need. We have a Rapid Response, where we provide a bag of groceries to the student. We have partnered with Hy-Vee to make sure that we have enough to give them a breakfast, a lunch and a supper. The breakfast would be a box of cereal, lunch is peanut butter and jelly and supper is spaghetti sauce and noodles and then we would give them a Hy-Vee Gift Card on top of that to make sure that they can go get those perishable items to round out the meal.”
She says NCC’s Thunder Cupboard program is unique, because it is entirely employee-driven.
(As above) “This was a unique initiative because it was entirely employee-driven. We have a group of employees on-campus who saw a need, wanted to be proactive on helping our students and it entirely came out of their drive and motivation to make sure our students are well taken care of.”
She says students who need to access NCC’s Thunder Cupboard can do so in a strictly confidential manner.
If you’d like to know how you can help NCC’s Thunder Cupboard program, call Kristi Landis at Northwest Iowa Community College, 712-324-5061, extension 164.
