SMC Food Pantry Gets Boost

dave-fleming-becky-moore
dave-fleming-becky-moore

Just three months after it got started, the student food pantry at Southwestern Michigan College has gotten a big boost. At a meeting last month, Cass County 100+ Women Who Care voted to adopt the Roadrunner Kitchen. SMC Vice President of Instruction David Fleming tells WSJM News the food pantry began this year as a way for students to pick up items when in need.

“It’s for students who identify, through self-identification, that they have what we call food insecurity,” Fleming said. “They would probably never phrase it that way, but it’s a national problem and it came out through our retention work. Students spend so much money on other things they often don’t have enough food.”

Fleming tells us the Roadrunner Kitchen has been supported with donations from staff and students since it started, but there had been a concern it would be difficult to keep up the momentum. With support from 100+ Women Who Care, so far coming in the form of a donation of more than $3,000, the pantry can even grow. Fleming says a next step could be to move from the Lions building to the library.