Writer: Lisa Rossi Photo: Duane Tinkey Mallary Allen empathizes with students who struggle with food insecurity because she used to be one herself. When she was in college, she became a parent and had to go on SNAP and WIC. “It was kind of scary for me,” she said. “It would have been helpful, maybe, to share what I was going through, to ask people who’d been there before what that was like.” That memory guides her work today as Drake University’s director of community engaged learning. She and the university’s food security lead, Kira Schall, recently spoke with the Business Record about their efforts to make sure students have enough food, both on campus and off. Here are six takeaways from their conversation. It’s OK to seek help. “We just tend to have cultural acceptance for the trope of the broke, hungry college student,” Allen said. “At Drake, we’d really like to counter that and provide more resources for students and normalize that it’s OK to seek help.” Drake distributes a newsletter about neighborhood resources, including a food pantry. The IMPACT CAP Drake Neighborhood Food Pantry is making a difference. A food pantry is a collaborative project of Drake and IMPACT Community Action Partnership and last year enlisted 30 Drake student volunteers. The team works hard to help students understand they can both volunteer there and use it as a resource, just a short walk from campus. Drake offers resources across campus. Food shelves can be found in several Drake buildings. “In the past year, our entire College of Pharmacy Health Sciences created a food shelf and basic needs closet, and then our Zimpleman College of Business followed suit,” Schall said. Sydney Dvorak, the university’s director of sustainability, found available space to create a free store. “You see the relationship between sustainability and just supporting your neighbor and fellow student,” Schall said. “A lot of these are places where people can bring surplus items that they don’t need and others can take what they need, so I think that we are getting better about providing resources on campus and building up that infrastructure as well.” Food insecurity is bigger than basic hunger. Sometimes people assume “food insecurity” is about “people who can’t access any food anytime,” but it’s a lot broader, Schall said. “It’s the lack of access to nutritious food that will sustain you, and I think that a lot of college students fall under that umbrella because of that rhetoric, the ‘poor college student’ rhetoric that you can live off of ramen and mac and cheese and pizza and things like that. As a college student, that’s a lot of what I’m seeing, and I think there’s just a really big stigma around seeking out resources.” Having conversations reduces the stigma. Allen said that when she shares her story, she talks about the positive impact that public benefits had on her life. “I needed them as a student,” she said. “I think when you’re comfortable to talk about your own experience with those things firsthand, that can also be a step towards normalizing that help-seeking. But of course, you need to be comfortable to do that, so I wouldn’t say it’s everyone’s obligation to do so, but I’m always happy to share my own story.” Drake has a generous spirit. “One thing that I really love about Drake University is that they are very community-oriented,” Schall said. “That’s really great to be at a university that values those things, and that also means that the students who are coming to this university, a lot of them generally have that spirit already, so it’s about connecting them to volunteer opportunities that are in the area. … They might already want to volunteer. It’s just about finding the right volunteer opportunity.” To hear the full conversation, head to businessrecord.com/iowa-stops-hunger-podcast or stream the Iowa Stops Hunger Podcast wherever you get your podcasts. Iowa Stops Hunger is an ongoing Business Publications Corp. initiative to raise awareness about food insecurity and inspire action to combat it. ...read more read less