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(upbeat music) - Hi, I'm Rhea Jha.

Food insecurity is a serious problem in America.

According to the USDA, more than 35 million Americans struggle with hunger.

Food insecurity is a problem on many university campuses as well, with 30% of college students suffering from food insecurity during their time at school.

How can hunger affect academic performance and what can be done to address the problem?

On this episode of "Digging Deeper" Penn State president, Eric Barron talks to Anna Barone, director of Student Care and Advocacy at Penn State, and Spencer Wallace, director of The Lion's Pantry.

- Well, thank you for joining me.

It's an incredibly important topic and maybe we should just begin by what exactly do we mean by food insecurity?

- Thank you, Dr. Barron.

I think food insecurity can be defined by the state of being without reliable access to a sufficient quantity of not just affordable, but nutritious food.

And so food insecurity certainly plagues humans across the globe, but uniquely impacts college students and is often invisible in a lot of ways.

When a person is food secure, they would have physical, social, and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food that meets their food preferences and dietary needs for an active and healthy life.

So at Penn State, Spencer and I and others that are partnering to do all we can to make sure our students are food secure.

We're not just thinking about making sure they have something to eat.

We want to make sure that it's good for them and helps them really, if you think of Maslow's hierarchy of needs, the more we have our basic needs secure, we have a roof over our head, we have water, we have food, we're gonna be able to engage academically.

We're gonna be able to connect.

We're gonna feel like we can belong and we can grow to be our fullest selves.

- So just to put a finer point on it by probing a little bit, if you miss a meal every day, are you food insecure?

- That's a good question.

I know a lot of our students do miss a meal every day.

I've heard even leaders, student leaders at Penn State talk about eating sleep for dinner.

So if they can't quite access three full meals a day, they might go to bed early and kind of sleep through their hunger and wake up knowing that they may have two meals ahead of them.

So I know that's a reality for our students.

Spencer, do you want to elaborate a little bit more?

- Yeah.

Thank you, Anna.

I think college also presents a really unique set of circumstances for students, especially in food insecurity.

A lot of students don't have the access to the resources or the knowledge, whether that's to prepare a good nutritious meal or it's how to budget their food, time management, and actually go out and purchase groceries, visit the dining commons or any one of those resources.

So a combination of those factors can end up the students missing meals, not purchasing the correct food or nutritious food, or they just simply don't have the budget to get these items.

And all those challenges combined together really makes food insecurity a big topic for students and a massive challenge.

- So in the same kind of category question, if you have three meals but they're all at a fast food restaurant, is that, would we also classify that as food insecure?

Because I'm not picking on the quality, but perhaps you're less likely to have fruit and vegetable.

- That's a good question.

I think that's what makes this issue kind of complicated and often misunderstood in a holistic way, because just because someone has food, has something to eat, and I know fast food restaurants, for example, are trying hard to make other options more nutritious, but I think it's bigger than just having something to eat.

It's having something that's enriching.

And I think that's how the university is trying to think about it.

I know The Lion's Pantry, the student farm, housing, food service, not just making sure people have, students have something to eat, but that it's good for them and helps their brain function fully.

And I think food insecurity is both chronic and acute.

So students may come from disadvantaged backgrounds and just chronically need to be living paycheck to paycheck and not be able to feel food secure ever, and they are used to that, they've grown up like that.

Or some students come from advantaged backgrounds, maybe don't have to live paycheck to paycheck, but something like a pandemic or like a big loss in the family or a medical event impacts them and they're no longer food secure when they're used to being food secure.

And we have both categories of students and we serve both as best we can.

- So I understand that if we look across the nation, about one in 10 Americans are viewed as food insecure, but even though we were saying much of this is hidden from view on university campuses, there are studies that suggest as many as three in 10 college students are food insecure.

Why the difference?

Why is this such an acute problem in a university environment versus the national environment?

- I'll take a stab at it and then Spencer will kind of fill in the gaps.

But I think from a practitioner's lens, I hear our students talking about a couple things.

So they maybe don't know how to budget their money.

Maybe they have a meal plan at the beginning of the year and they don't know how to make sure that it stretches all the way to the end of the semester.

And so they talk about lack of education or lack of awareness kind of impacting their food security.

Not all, like Spencer said, and like our students said in a survey we did with them, students don't have time or feel like they have time to shop and cook, and so they end up securing food by convenience, which is often as we know, more expensive.

You're kind of paying for the time that you don't have.

And I think also just being able to get places, lack of transportation and that kind of dovetails with the convenience piece.

Students may secure food within reach, which again is probably more convenient and oftentimes more expensive than being able to get to a grocery store and really buy food for a balanced meal, and supplies again, to actually make food, boil water, cut vegetables, that kind of thing.

And Spencer, what would you add?

- Yeah, thank you, Anna.

I think you really kind of hit the nail on the head there.

As a student and for students, food insecurity, it's a real issue and, like I touched on before, it's a combination of factors that college presents.

It makes it a unique challenge.

Whether that's transportation, like Anna said, and students don't have a car, for example, and a grocery store is a 15 minute walk away, 20 minute walk away, and they're trying to squeeze in a meal before class and they don't have the time to go to the grocery store, and that could mean that they're ordering food now and that can present either financial problems down the road or nutritional problems in terms of the actual food that they're getting.

So there's a lot of factors that come into play for food insecurity for students.

And we see that a lot at The Lion's Pantry.

When we first initially started, one of our main goals was simply just to get food out to students.

But recently we're trying to work on an education campaign to give students the resources to cook and use this food on their own, because we think it's one thing to get them that food and have access to that food, but it's an entirely separate thing that they know what to do with that food to make it last and to have an impactful and nutritious meal.

And as college students, that's not the easiest thing.

We're kind of, we're growing up in the world.

We're trying to manage our time, and sometimes the simple things like cooking a meal don't always pop into your mind as one of the important things.

So all of these things, whether it's educational, transportation, monetary, all of these factors really come into play in college, and it's a really unique time for everyone and it's a couple formative years.

So with all these factors in mind, food and those matters can kind of be pushed to the side.

So we're really trying to bring these matters to the forefront and give students the resources so they can help themselves and we can help them as well.

- So I'm struck that if we look at this as "I may come to school without the resources, "I may have challenging and managing my time "so I made the particular choices.

"I may have challenges in managing my budget."

So it strikes me that something like The Lion Pantry would be sensing some of those changes by who's getting food when, and you're talking about some of the programs you're doing, but maybe we should begin, Spencer, by just having you tell us, you know, how did the food pantry get started and what happens there?

- Yeah, thank you.

So the food pantry was started in 2014 by a group of students, and just looking to solve the problem of food insecurity, raise awareness around it, and try to develop a resource for students that were food insecure and undergoing those problems.

So the pantry was initially founded and we are luckily enough in 2017 to get the class gift, the senior class gift, which allowed us to open up an actual physical pantry location.

So in the past couple years we really developed the actual physical pantry and our store.

So we've been lucky enough to partner with a lot of different student organizations, alumni networks, different colleges, in the Penn State family that have been generous enough to donate different items to us, whether that's the actual food and other items that goes out the students or it's other items for the pantry that help us operate.

So we're a for-student food pantry run by students.

So students simply come by with a Penn State ID card.

They show that to us and that's the only question we ask.

And from there, they have access to all of the food in our physical pantry.

And besides just picking it up, with COVID we've now developed a delivery network and a pickup network as well.

So there's some more safe and healthy options with COVID.

- There are so many times that I'm just intensely proud of our students and what they do.

And this is just a great example of students taking care of their fellow students.

And I had the opportunity to visit not too long ago the food pantry and chat with students that were manning the facility.

So if in fact this discussion about, you know, you run out of money, managing time or money, does that mean that as the semester goes on and just as you're hitting finals week, are you seeing a tremendous uptick in the number of students that are seeking food?

- Definitely, that's the most popular week for us when we get the most users is always at the end of the semesters, primarily during finals week.

And that's when everything's coming to a head.

It could be financially with students could, their meal plan could be gone or run out, or their supply of money they're using the buy groceries is running low.

And at the same time, they're trying to figure out finals and their grades for the semester and all of that is combining into one big problem and it's creating an issue of food insecurity.

So that's when students really come and seek out our resources the most.

- So I'm trying to imagine what it's like to try to score a good grade on a final when you're hungry, and so do we sense or are there studies that show that this has significant, food insecurity has significant impact on the success of our students?

- Yes, there was a prior survey done by Project Care and students, they reported feeling stressed or very stressed, I forget the exact numbers, but due to basic needs issues like food insecurity.

So if you don't get a good meal, that leads to other problems, whether or not you're feeling tired or a lack of energy, and this further complicates studying for exams and then actual performance on these exams as well.

- So let's see if we can spend some time on what it might take to fix this problem.

I mean, clearly we have the food bank that is providing a service that is extraordinarily important.

And I'm sort of struck by my own experience, although a long time ago as a student, that I got my first apartment and I had two friends that were living in the apartment and I talked to my folks on the phone and I said, "You know, I'm gonna save a lot of money.

"We're gonna take turns, cooking.

"We'll buy groceries.

"All of these are great opportunities "for me to sort of manage things and do better."

And my parents called me back and they said, "We've purchased you a one meal a day meal plan."

And I said, "I cannot believe, why did you do that?

"That seems like a considerable waste of money."

And now I realize my parents had given me a gift of food security, that no matter how poorly I managed, I would at least get one meal a day.

It wasn't points that you would use up and then run out.

It was basically a daily set of points.

And so I'm really struck by what a wonderful gift that was.

And of course not everybody can manage that.

But if we look out over the landscape, what are the types of things that we can do to help students become more food secure?

- Thanks, President Barron.

I'll start 'cause I do have a couple systematic ideas and things that we've already done.

So if you do focus back in on that end of semester time period, a lot of students don't have the resources to kind of finish the semester food secure and be able to focus on earning the best grades that they can, for example.

And so we partnered with Housing and Food Security a couple semesters ago to host something called Turn the Tables on Hunger where a lot of students on the other side of the spectrum have extra money that's kind of use it or lose it.

And so they were invited to, students were invited to, as they were checking out toward the end of the semester with a couple weeks remaining, they were invited to donate up to $15 to students in need, students who didn't have that extra.

Honestly, we capped it because we were worried that with how altruistic our students are they might just give all they had.

And then we would get calls from parents saying, "You know, my student gave away the rest of their meal plan "to other students in need."

And so we capped it.

And so students, together they donated thousands of dollars to their fellow students who weren't ending the semester in the black, they were more in the red.

And so that's one thing systematically that we could just commit to always doing at the end of every semester in partnership with HFS.

We piloted at University Park and one of our campuses and it went well without much advertisement.

Another thing systematically is I think we need to be really mindful of breaks, like spring break and winter break when, especially spring break, for example, a lot of students take that opportunity to, outside of the pandemic, to go somewhere warm and sunny and kick back with their friends.

They either pay for it themselves or their families host that kind of trip.

When a lot of students can't afford that, a lot of on-campus residence halls close.

And so they don't have anywhere to go and the dining halls are closed.

They're suddenly food insecure for these acute periods of time.

And I don't think as a university, and this isn't just a Penn State problem, but I don't think institutions of higher education are thinking about those breaks because they're not a break for all.

In fact, they might make students less housing and food secure and a lot of their, even students' on-campus jobs aren't available to work those breaks.

So those are just two examples of systematically things we could do.

We also always have our emergency fund through Student Care and Advocacy that folks can donate to and then students can reach out and submit a very easy to complete online application to kind of convey in what ways they need help.

And then we can very quickly grant them money, a one-time lift out of an unforeseen circumstance that helps make them whole and again, helps them focus on why they're here, to engage academically and do as well as they can.

Spencer, what else would you add?

- Yeah.

Thank you, Anna.

I think you touched on a lotta great things.

And a lot of the things that we've talked about in prior conversations as well as ways to kind of fix this problem, overall and at Penn State as well.

I think one of the biggest things which I've touched on prior is education and just a knowledge about what to do with food as well.

Like I said, we've really seen that as an issue at The Lion's Pantry ourselves.

It's one thing to get students the food.

It's an entirely other issue for students to know what to do with that food.

And as 18, 19, 20 year olds, that can be a really big challenge to figure out if I have some rice, if I have some meat, like how can I make an actual meal out of this that satisfies nutritional requirements while also being cost-effective and could maybe provide for two meals a day, or other items like that.

So I think education campaigns that are really targeting students and that are student friendly for meals that students would cook for different items that students have access to is really important to look at.

And I think those items in combination with fundraising campaigns like Anna said and Student Care and Advocacy and their fund as well, I think in combination there's a real solution that can be found, but it needs a multi-pronged approach and it can't just come from one specific area.

- Do other universities or any universities actually seek through fundraising essentially food scholarships?

I know a lot of times you get a scholarship and to help cover your tuition and, you know, unfortunately we're really out of time.

So maybe just a short answer.

Do you see potential for actually, of getting people to give a food scholarship?

- I could see that.

I think a lot of student aid does cover room and board to kind of that out, but I think that, and Spencer and I were talking about this, making sure campuses have pantries or emergency funds sometimes does just feel like throwing a Band-Aid into an otherwise open wound.

And so, if there was to be a food scholarship, for example, I do hope, like Spencer was suggesting, that it comes with education on how to spend that money and how to really make yourself whole and keep yourself whole.

So not just giving someone money, but also the education and awareness to stretch it out, and then maybe pay it forward.

- Yeah, yeah.

Okay, wonderful.

Such an important topic, and in many ways hidden from view for a lot of people other than folks like the two of you who are paying close attention to the wellbeing of our students.

So thank you so much for joining me.

I appreciate it.

- Thank you for the time.

- Yeah, and thank you for having us.

- Thank you, Dr. Barron for being here and talking about this topic that I feel like not many people are talking about right now.

But my first question, like, as they said in the interview, food insecurity has the potential harm for students' ability to achieve their goals educationally.

So I guess, what has Penn State done in the past to aid students that are affected by food insecurity so that they can succeed without this burden on their backs, I guess.

- Yeah, there, you know, I think one of the most important things is how do you achieve, how do you do well on finals if you're hungry, and not just finals, the end of the semester, or for some people much of the year?

So critical problem, and I don't think universities have done anywhere near enough, and part of the reason is it's kind of a hidden problem.

People don't necessarily want to talk about the fact that they're hungry.

You know, one of the reasons, I understand, why the food pantry at University Park was put off site, so to speak, was to remove any sense of stigma.

But this for students who are recognizing the problem, trying to help other students, and we're talking about a food bank that's been in existence for five or six years, you know, thank goodness for the student gift.

But I think now the university is much more aware and we have a group right now studying what are all the different ways in which we can help limit food insecurity.

I'm looking forward to their report so we can do more.

- Yeah, definitely, Lion Pantry is obviously doing a lot.

And in the interview they brought up, Anna and Spencer brought up a bunch of initiatives and problems that they've kind of tried to implement to fix these problems.

And so are you thinking about like what, 'cause I didn't even know that people were food insecure, people like during breaks and stuff, or like how could things be implemented even on the student's side where they might easily be able to donate money from their meal plan or even they brought up like a food scholarship.

Like what are you thinking as a institution that could be done to fix this problem?

- So I do think mechanisms by which if folks have extra food dollars, that they can share them, that's an important element.

I do think making sure that we're looking at different types of scholarships and capabilities.

I can imagine donors giving funds that would allow us at say at the end of the semester to have food resources that people could apply for because a donor has provided that, as an example.

The educational portion of it that allows you to manage your semester well, or better, you know, is also incredibly important.

But you do, you sit there and think about the time a student has and will you stop to grocery shop and cook or do you just grab fast food someplace that is close by and what that cost is.

There are a lot of different factors here, all the way to students who simply don't have enough money to pay for tuition and housing and food, and that's a different problem to have to solve.

But I do think we've got a lot of possibilities here, but we just need to do our best to apply them effectively.

- Definitely.

Yeah.

So thank you so much for talking with me about this incredibly important topic that I feel like needed to be shed light on.

So thank you.

- Thank you.

(upbeat music) - Support for "Digging Deeper" comes from the Penn State Alumni Association, connecting alumni to the university and to each other.

The alumni association is powered by pride.

Learn more at alumni.psu.edu.

And from viewers like you, thank you.

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