With a look at this unique problem. Senior english major Stephan Perez spends hours each day in Martin Luther king jr. Library. He studies. But one distraction is difficult to ignore. But i mean im spending time in the library and people bring food from home and i have no food to bring anyway. So im just sort of stuck there eating with whatever granola bars i have left or whatever. Hes hungry and hes not alone. Food insecurity is impacting College Campuses. According to a 2015 csu report on displaced and food insecure students the study shows that california state universities are shedding light to make a difference on those students who face Food Insecurity. Usually i can get by on my own, you know. Just from what the savings i have and when my parents do do is they just ship me a box of food, sometimes, you know . Perez left home two years ago to pursue college in a different city. But once he arrived here he found it difficult. Thinking he was the only student who was routinely hungry. Its really hard, you know, my friends here they want to know like hey lets hang out lets you know grab a drink or lets go out to dinner. And its kind of hard to be like, oh i cant do that you know. Perez finds it the most difficult during winter breaks waiting on his Financial Aid to have some sort of income. I could definitely remember this last break right at the end. And so im waiting for school to start still waiting for my aid. And sigh it was just that long like week, were just waiting for it and i was really hungry. I was really at this point its like living off of like Peanut Butter sandwiches and ramen. His mother Martina Ibarra is trying to help. As a mother very worried. I worry about him all the time. And he keeps in contact with me, so this way i just, you know i think thats his way of you know making letting me know hes doing okay. And today we came up to bring him some food because i knew he was getting a little short. According to the csu study 79 of students dont know about available services. 63 of staff and faculty lack awareness of the issue. And theres 54 of not having any Services Available on campus to help food insecure and displacement students. The numbers started ibarra. I think its horrible because you know these kids they want to go to college and they go away from their homes, and their security, and their comfort zone and their parents provide for them. And when they want to go out on their own and they think its a really good idea, and theyre theyre looking forward to it and you know planning their future. And they dont take into consideration that they have to pay for things, and it becomes a burden on them. Ibarra now realizes that most students dont talk to their parents about what theyre going through in school because they do not want to worry them. She says her son kept his Food Insecurity problem away from her until recently. All this time i was not knowing this. So its very hard it hurts my heart it balls to just parents to ask questions to their children and spark a conversation about eating daily nutritional meals. When we come back well talk to perezs mother and get her thoughts on her sons situation [music] [music] welcome back. We heard perezs story on Food Insecurity but now we go further into the story and how the issue is impacting students on campus. Rigo gomes continues our coverage. [tower rings] on the san jose state campus, perez was able to find help from a friend to have access to food. And i know victor hernandez, he sort of, you know, pointed me in the right direction with the food shelfs. That i started realizing that like, oh im not the only one whos doing this. It actually is a big problem. Hernandez is on the Student Hunger Committee, which has set up shelves around campus. Offering free food for anyone who needs it. The Student Hunger Committee is the committee that put up all the food shelves around campus. So those food shelves, ive went to some of those. They have stuff like granola bars like cup noodles, cliff bars. Basically nonperishable goods. Hernandez says he became involved because he sees hunger as a problem and make sure that those students have easy access to these food shelves. They were trying to actively help them out. Students still feel a lot of shame about doing it and we want to make sure that if they do go on this path to get food from a food shelf that we dont give them any barriers. That we dont have any stuff thats make them rethink their that decision. Because taking that first step is a hard step to take. San jose state sociology major ariana briones, is launching a campaign called hungry spartans. Hungry spartans is we are advocating for a food pantry, a centralized food pantry. In the Student Health center because that is a place that is meant to provide wellness for all students. Briones became involved in the Food Insecurity issue because it was facing her campus and her friends. And she found the statistics shocking. Its just really not a healthy lifestyle. Its just College Students in order to succeed, we need like food for brain power. And for energy and for health. So we believe its an important issue that is easily recognized because its within our campus. Its not within the entire community. So we think its very achievable to be able to have this food pantry and its an issue that definitely needs to be solved. San jose state alumna megan huey says that talking about hunger will raise awareness and get the campus the food pantry it needs. Huey offers an alternative for students who want access to a more healthy green meal. You know, another resource that is probably underutilized is the a. S. Garden, which is on 7th street across from joe west. And as long as you volunteer for an hour monday and friday between 1 and 5, youre more than welcome to take home as much free groceries as you need. Many students are still not aware, so many of their classmates are hungry. But knowledge about the problem may result in action. I wish san jose state would come together as a community more, and raise awareness about this because i had no idea personally. That one in three people are affected by this and thats you know, now that im aware. Maybe theres something i could do to help. When we come back well sit down with staff and faculty running the Student Hunger Committee. Searching for solutions to end hunger on the san jose state campus. Stay with us. [music] [music] welcome back to this edition of equal time. For today were going to focus on food insecurities for College Students. Lets meet our guests. Im ben faulter, im a chair of the Behavioral Intervention Team on campus. And serve on our student Hungry Committee. My name is stephanie fabian, and i am the director of marketing and communications with spartan shops. And i am the marketing chair for the Student Hunger Committee. My name is kristen wonder and im the sustainability coordinator for spartan shops. And the cochair of the Student Hunger Committee. Hi my name is elizabeth agramont, i am the Program Assistant for the Food Shelf Program and work out of the Cesar Chavez Community action center. Im rigoberto gomez, the correspondent thats working on the Food Insecurity story. Thank you very much all of you for being here today. You know we are going to talk about pantries are going to talk about a bunch of things and some of us may have never heard of this. But stephanie help us understand this concept of food insecurities. What are we talking about . With Food Insecurity a lot of people when they hear it they go what are you insecure about, food . And what it really means is when people cannot afford to eat and this can be for several reasons. It can be that are picking between Living Expenses and eating. Maybe i have to pay rent today so i cant afford to eat. Or for students it might be i had to pay my tuition today, so i cannot afford to buy dinner or breakfast or lunch. So elizabeth, are we talking about a small number of students that deal with this . Well actually were about one in three students. One in three . Wow so, approximately 11,000 students on campus facing this issue. We got that statistics based on a survey sent out and fall 2014. So ben, how do we address this, when we know this is a problem . I mean i think it has to occur on a lot of Different Levels on our campus. Right now we have a number of food shelfs that kind of provide an immediate need. But we need to work on it systemically. You know, its a situation not just on this campus, but on all the csu campuses. We need to have programs where people to recognize that they can connect to food resources off campus, such as calfresh. Which is food stamps, different food shelves. But also teaching people with the food that they do get donated, how to use that in a healthier way. Because often people dont donate food thats the healthiest. So its kind of a holistic piece of of working with students. In my work, im working with people that those pieces of food and securities are often tied a larger root issues. So they often are in stable with housing situations. A lot of Mental Health pieces and so really the food is a part of the puzzle that i work with. Very interesting. And kristine, youre part of sustainability. How do we deal with this with 11,000 students . So you know like ben and stephanie were saying that this isnt just you know, having food shelves on campus. We have a lot of other resources on campus to help students. And one of them is a garden we have right off campus on san salvador street we have a garden for students to go volunteer in. And then they can take fresh fruits and vegetables home. And we also have cooking classes on campus that are free of students to teach them how to cook these food that we are providing to them. And we also have a Free Breakfast Club on campus. Its monday through friday in the peer connections in the Student Services center. And in the afternoon from 1 to 5 in the wellness lounge in the Student Wellness center we have afternoon snacks for students as well. Ive been here 25 years, rigo and i didnt that this was going on. What made you think about doing this story . You know what as students what made me think about this story, is that students were always busy, we are you know spending money on books. On tuition. So it just it just raised awareness on how students actually eat. And what they actually eat, its important to be healthy. And a question i really want to ask is how do why do students go into Food Insecurity . What are the main reasons . What are the factors that lead to that . Well you know for me being a student, before i became a fulltime employee here on campus. I face Food Insecurity when i was in Community College up in chico. And between paying for school, paying for housing, and learning how to be an adult, sometimes your paycheck just doesnt make it to food. And so i think a lot of students are facing this. And so you know here on campus were trying to address that in the best way that we can. And here in Silicon Valley our expenses are pretty high, so you can imagine why those numbers are going up. But now that we know its existing, we have various ways to deal with it. One thing is pantries talk a little bit about that. Do pantries is really make a difference . Do they help . I mean i do i think that they do make a difference but again its just to the immediate need that students are facing. So across campus we have 14 different shelf locations, where students can get free food no questions asked. So i think it does help them that way and we have definitely some responses from students through like anonymous surveys and every time i see response theres always liked it thank you for having this program and service. So i think it does help some. Im sorry go ahead. And with the pantry just to add on too that its its a great resource to have. But again with ben, as he mentioned we need that holistic approach. A pantry provides nonperishable food items for that immediate need that you have. But we also provide Additional Resources, education. Because once you get that food how do you continue to budget yourself and plan in the future after you graduate from san jose state . How do you continue to succeed academically and experience and then just kind of stopped experiencing Food Insecurity. So again pantry is great, but there are Additional Resources and education that is. That makes sense you dont want to create a dependency, concept where somebodys going to have to do this for the rest of your life. Youve got to figure it out as you go along. Very good but then once youve done that, im curious about the pantry just in this regard, how do people, can people donate to it . Where do you get the food . Absolutely, so people definitely can donate to and our program. They would contact probably me or any of the members on the student Hungry Committee just saying that they would like to donate and we have specific donation guidelines. You know, no expired food, nonperishable food items, also we have our website so if youd like to donate online you can go to sjsu. Edu food and theres a little icon that says donate. So we definitely appreciate donations because it costs approximately 2000 a month to purchase food, so. Rigo, youre student on this campus you came up with a story idea, but most importantly i want to ask you, how do students talk about these issues . Do are you aware students who need this kind of help . To be honest, i dont think students talk about it, because, you know, there is a sense of embarrassment and im not aware of it but now that im doing the story more and researching im looking at stats and data and its a big issue. Its a big and i really want to make this more for people to actually see that this is actually happening very good. Ben i was going to ask you, as a faculty member and a school director, i sometimes encounter students where theyre in trouble and they need food. And they dont know where to turn and they dont know about these options. So we as faculty we try to get the word out, but what more can we do other than say, theres help go get it. What do you say when you talk to students . I think thats a great question asked and i think the biggest piece is helping normalized on that there this is a reality on College Campuses. And breaking down the stigma of talking about the fact that i have food insecurities or im couch surfing or im depressed. Theres a lot of pieces that we have so the social stigma, dont talk about this is a subject. Theres people that ive worked with as students that have taken food from the food pantries, but have to double check to make sure that nobodys watching them taking it. Because its hard for them to admit that i need assistance right now. And to talk to friends about that. Theres students that i work with that because theyre international students, or an ab 540 student that cant work offcampus and the opportunities for income or a little bit different for them. And so they feel a little bit in a different place, when theyre at a Student Group meeting thats off campus at a restaurant. Everybody else is ordering a meal and they have to publicly say and make up a lie of, oh i just ate. And then they sit there and stare into somebodys food while everybody else that has the privilege and accessibility to have food just sits there is an eats like its nothing. I think the biggest pieces to look out for the peers and also open that invitation that if youre in a spot where you cant afford it right now, feel free to be able to share that with us. And then for peers to be able to Work Together to say, hey maybe this time well meet in a different location or well order for everybody together and pour our money. I think a social stigma is a really big piece we need to challenge on this campus. And were not talking about homeless students. Were talking about because you have financial challenges. A little bit of both. Ive certainly worked with College Students on our campus that are homeless, folks that either have their housing situations change. Theyve been kicked out of apartments, they are couch surfing some that have purposely slept in cars because they want to save money, so they have money for food that theyre having to decide between that. You know elizabeth shared the 1 in 3 stat earlier, but i think the other one is 1 in 5 of our students will go an entire day without eating food. A student i met with two weeks ago on friday had gone three days before he had eaten food. I mean i had a banana and some chocolatechip cookies in my office and i basically had to force him to take them. So its hard even when youre meeting with someone one to one, that youre sharing deeply about your situation, that theres still a lot of sometimes shame of wanting to accept that help. So yeah i think that the pieces Food Insecurity, housing insecurities this all can be connected together. Not everybody has all those situations but when we open on ourselves up to be able to say share your situation how can we work on it together . This is very halting to hear, you never think of a College Campus like san jose state or any other campus having these type of issues. Well and like we said e