La Roche University grant helps get meals to students

College students should be focused on passing classes, not looking for their next meal.

The 2023-24 PA Hunger-Free Campus awards can help alleviate that worry by providing funds to campuses across the state to combat food insecurity on campus. This includes La Roche University in McCandless, which was awarded a $20,000 grant award.

The grant will be used to help expand the on-campus food pantry, said Colleen Ruefle, La Roche’s vice president for student life and dean of students, and Title IX coordinator.

“Students who do struggle with food insecurity often struggle to be successful in college,” said Ruefle. “La Roche has had the Providence Food Pantry available to students for many years. The pantry allows students who experience food insecurity the opportunity to choose healthy, nutritious snacks and food on campus at no cost.”

The PA Hunger-Free Campus initiative was launched in 2022 to support postsecondary institutions’ efforts in addressing student hunger needs on campus, said Taj Magruder, press secretary for the Pennsylvania Department of Education.

“Fighting hunger for students at every age is a priority for the (Gov. Josh) Shapiro administration, because no student can learn on an empty stomach. In addition to delivering universal free breakfast to 1.7 million K-12 Pennsylvania students, Gov. Shapiro also advocated for $1 million for the PA Hunger-Free Campus Initiative in his inaugural budget,” he said.

Originally, the food pantry at La Roche would receive food donations from administration, staff and community members who would come to the church located on campus.

While the university received small grants over the years, the Hunger Free Grant from Pennsylvania allowed La Roche to expand the offerings and the hours of the pantry, Ruefle said. And the university is able to provide students with meal passes to access the campus dining hall to get a hot meal.

“We started the pantry when realizing that a good number of students were not able to afford even basic supplies, and obviously students need access to healthy, well-balanced diets to be successful in the classroom,” said Ruefle.

Students who use the pantry at La Roche often are commuters, but sometimes they live on campus and have limited funds to access the campus dining facilities. So the pantry is an additional option for them, Ruefle explained.

“Last semester, I covered one of the shifts of the pantry and met a student who was a single mom and had a small kitchen fire in her apartment, and she was picking up some items for her and her child while she waited for the kitchen to be repaired,” Ruefle said. “She was so grateful to have a place to get some items for her child’s lunch.”

Thirty-six percent of students know someone who dropped out of college because of food insecurity during the pandemic, and 52 percent of students who faced food insecurity in 2020 did not apply for support because they did not know how, according to a report on the PA Hunger-Free Campus Initiative on the Pennsylvania Department of Education website.

La Roche, located on Babcock Boulevard with 1,100 students, also received $20,000 in 2023

It is one of six schools in Allegheny County that applied and received monies for the 2023-2024 PA Hunger Free Campus Award grant.

Other awardees in Allegheny County include $60,000 to Carnegie Mellon University, $19,998 to Chatham University, $13,600 to Community College of Allegheny County, $20,000 to Pittsburgh Technical College and $34,100 to Point Park University. More information is available at www.education.pa.gov.