The montage explores resources for students in need.
By: BRITTNEY FARROW
Copy Editor
The Brown Bag Café has been part of the STLCC-Meramec campus for less than two years, and yet the program has already helped to feed several hungry students.
Introduced to the campus in the fall of 2013, The Brown Bag Café (BBC) is a collaborative effort between on-campus groups such as Service Learning, Student Governance Council, Student Assistance Program, Phi Theta Kappa and TRIO Student Services.
Together these groups created the BBC in hopes that no student would have to go to school hungry.
By providing free lunches for students who otherwise would not be able to afford to eat, the hope is that they will have an easier time focusing on their academics.
Despite the fact that large portions of the STLCC-Meramec clubs and organizations have adopted this program, it was actually conceived by a former student, Deborah Caby.
In her English class, Caby needed an honors program project. The issues students faced while hungry – such as receiving headaches and being unable to focus – came to light.
And Caby, an active member of TRiO Student Services, reached out to the organizations on campus to get them to back the program.
Due to the nature of the program, it runs primarily on donations. Throughout campus, there are boxes where students can contribute items such as canned fruits and vegetables.
When these boxes are not available, students are encouraged to take their donations to the Student Assistance and Service Learning offices.
These donations are compiled into a brown paper lunch bag that students can collect daily from the Student Assistance office. The more items collected, the more students the BBC can feed. Most items are collected during October, Hunger Awareness Month, but donations are accepted year-round.
“[The best items to donate are] anything you’d put on your grocery list that doesn’t need refrigeration. Especially protein sources such as canned tuna [or other types of meat],” Debbi Corson said. Corson is the coordinator of Service Learning and Civic Engagement.
Aside from cost-free food, the Brown Bag Café aims to provide students with complete privacy. To determine whether or not they are eligible to participate in the program, students only have to talk to Corson.
While the assistance program has been beneficial for many students, its main purpose is to act as a gateway for referring students to the help they really need. Through the Student Assistance office, students who are eligible for the BBC can often find information on how to receive benefits such as free health screenings, access to food stamps and more.
The first time a student is in need of a free lunch, they simply have to go to the Student Assistance office and sign up. The second time they must fill out an intake form to find out if they can continue to receive lunches.
All Pell Grant students are eligible for the BBC.
Compared to last year’s donations, the BBC is on track, Corson said. Numbers collected by the Service Learning office actually put the donations up 20 percent from the 2013-14 school year; however, there has been a 130 percent increase of students who are accessing the program.
“I’m really hoping [in the upcoming year] that we can get this out into the wider community, gain media attention and receive more funds so that we can help more students,” Corson said.
The second anniversary of the Brown Bag Café will be celebrated on Wednesday, April 1, from 11 a.m. – 1 p.m.
The anniversary celebration from the previous year included a birthday-themed party which included cake, balloons and food-centered games. It was also used as a method to raise more awareness for the service, according to Corson.
