Wreck Hunger Graduate & International Food Pantry

By Dylan Bailey, Wreck Hunger Graduate & International Food Pantry

Graduate students in the College of Human Sciences (COHS) are helping to address hunger on campus for their peers. Students Ashlee Taylor, a Nutritional Sciences PhD student, and Dylan Bailey, a Nutritional Sciences Masters student, are tackling food and nutrition insecurity within the graduate and international student populations at Texas Tech University (TTU).

How are they addressing this serious issue?

They have opened the Wreck Hunger Graduate & International Food Pantry. The pantry is also a research hub, helping fill the gap in the literature related to food and nutrition insecurity among graduate and international students. This research will provide valuable information to better address this problem, as college students have approximately double the rate of food insecurity than the general population.

This is such an extraordinary initiative for the COHS and TTU communities that it has already been featured in TTU Today, Fox 34, TTU Office of International Affairs, TTU Hub and KCBD.

Making a real difference for students in need, especially COHS students, is easy. Actually, there are several ways to help the Wreck Hunger Graduate and International Food Pantry!

1. Host a food drive to help supply the pantry with donations. Donations can be dropped off at the International Cultural Center (601 Indiana Ave – preferred drop off location) or The Graduate School, Administration Building Room 328 (Boston Ave at 15th Street). If you are not in the Lubbock area or if you do not have time to drop off items, you can ship donations directly to the pantry through their Amazon Wish List: http://amzn.com/w/O0IFTIZ0ZQ2V.
2. Volunteer to help with the internal operations of the Pantry. It does not matter if you want to help "one time" or "consistently", they have a place for you. Anyone who is interested in volunteering can go here: https://goo.gl/jvDX6d.
3. Bring awareness. By word of mouth and buzzing about this initiative on social media (visit us on Facebook and Twitter), you can help inform of the pantry's existence to those who may be interested in donating. You will also spread information to those in need that help is here and that food and nutrition insecurity is a real issue on college campuses.