In May 2016, the Pellissippi State Community College Pantry began in offering service to their students, faculty, and any family members in need through Second Harvest’s School Pantry program. They started with 19 students enrolled from 2 of their 5 campuses, and they are currently serving 35 students from 4 out of their 5 campuses. This story came from an AmeriCorp/VISTA representative serving at the Pellissippi State Community College:
“The Pantry is going great. We are growing weekly with new participants and the college president is already keeping an eye out for us to move into a larger space once something is available. That may be awhile down the road, but it’s awesome knowing that administration is so on board with helping us.
We have grown to 4 out of 5 campuses so far with participants and deliveries. I am expecting the 5th campus to come online soon. We have also created a couple of partners in Knoxville that are helping us augment the orders with fresh organic produce from their gardens as well as our own. This has made a HUGE impact on the types of fresh vegetables we can bring to the students. Not to mention that any left over produce is left out for our students, faculty, and staff as they come by and find a “treat” during the day. It has proven to be quite the comedy watching people hover in anticipation, waiting for the extra produce to be left.”
United Way of Greater Knoxville is proud to support programs that not only offer free food to those in need, but healthy, nutritious, organic food to those in need. So often, individuals suffering from food insecurity sacrifice health in order to put food on the table. Second Harvest does excellent work to provide healthy food to the hungry in our community. Change doesn’t happen alone. To live better, we must LIVE UNITED.