{"id":2277,"date":"2017-11-27T08:00:48","date_gmt":"2017-11-27T08:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/?p=2277"},"modified":"2017-11-22T16:21:20","modified_gmt":"2017-11-22T16:21:20","slug":"not-enough-tstc-staff-senate-fights-hunger-on-campus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/?p=2277","title":{"rendered":"Not Enough: TSTC Staff Senate Fights Hunger on Campus"},"content":{"rendered":"

(HARLINGEN) – One snack-size Ziploc bag with ramen or canned corn is a usual meal for Texas State Technical College Biology student Veronica Lopez.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have to divide my food and ration to make a small meal last for several days,\u201d she said. \u201cBut a little of something is better than nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is for students like Lopez that TSTC Staff Senate is hosting an annual food drive to benefit TSTC\u2019s Charlie\u2019s Pantry, which serves students living on campus, and the Student Center Pantry, which serves commuting students.<\/p>\n

Lopez is a first-generation college student and comes from a low-income family and receives most, if not all, of her meals from TSTC\u2019s Charlie\u2019s Pantry.<\/p>\n

The 19-year-old said at times she has lived solely on water, needing to drink plenty to feel full and never knowing what to say when people comment on her thin body.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf not for the pantry, there would be days I wouldn\u2019t eat at all,\u201d said Lopez. \u201cRight now I have nothing in my fridge.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lopez is nervous though because the pantry is running low on food and she is not the only one who relies on it.\"TSTC<\/a><\/p>\n

TSTC Interim Housing Director Andrea Salas said this semester alone she has helped nearly 60 students with food.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur students rely heavily on this pantry,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd this semester the need seems to have increased. We can\u2019t let our students go hungry.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both pantries run exclusively on donations and depend on the food and monetary donations received during this annual drive.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, for Charlie\u2019s Pantry, a community member generously donated $500 during last year\u2019s food drive. The donation, to date, is still supplying frozen foods such as TV dinners for TSTC students.<\/p>\n

Sharon Foster, TSTC Staff Senate president, said their goal is to alleviate students\u2019 hunger and the stress of not knowing where their next meal will come from.<\/p>\n

\u201cBetween tuition, books and housing, food most of the time doesn\u2019t fit in the budget,\u201d said Foster.<\/p>\n

The hunger problem is not unique to colleges in South Texas. In a study done by Wisconsin Hope Lab and Feeding America, 50 percent of college students nationwide struggle with not having enough food, with the majority clustered in the low-income, first-generation group.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving to decide between food and an education should not be a decision they have to make,\u201d Foster added.<\/p>\n

The TSTC Staff Senate Food Drive runs through December 21, with boxes in nearly every building on campus including the Student Services Center, Engineering Center and the Nursing Education Center.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn past years students, faculty, staff and the community have really come through for our students,\u201d said Foster. \u201cI\u2019m positive we will get the pantries fully stocked again.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for Lopez, she said her goal is to graduate as a dental hygienist so she can help provide for her little brother and mother and get out of their current situation of never having enough.<\/p>\n

TSTC\u2019s Staff Senate is accepting both food and monetary donations. To help, call 956-364-4023.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(HARLINGEN) – One snack-size Ziploc bag with ramen or canned corn is a usual meal for Texas State Technical College Biology student Veronica Lopez. \u201cI have to divide my food and ration to make a small meal last for several days,\u201d she said. \u201cBut a little of something is better than nothing.\u201d It is for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2277","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-harlingen"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2277","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2277"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2277\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2279,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2277\/revisions\/2279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}