By Alexis De Leon-Lindner
SAN MARCOS — When Dominique Alfaro went to college, she wasn’t expecting to struggle to afford to eat. She had a meal plan, but her busy work and class schedule caused her to miss eating at the campus dining halls. The dorm kitchenette on her floor frequently had broken appliances, leaving her unable to prepare food.
When Alfaro posted about her frustrations on Facebook, she was surprised at the response she received from old classmates who didn’t understand why she was missing meals. It was her first experience having to explain food insecurity.
Food insecurity is the limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally safe foods, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Food insecurity is a continuously rising issue that about 23% of undergraduates and 12% of graduate students experience while pursuing higher education, according to the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study. Towards the end of the semester, college students feel the budget constraints are getting tighter and need affordable ways to buy groceries. The most significant issues affecting college students are the stigma surrounding food insecurity and the lack of awareness and access to food assistance resources.
Bobcat Bounty, Texas State University’s on-campus food pantry, attempts to bring awareness to this issue at its weekly distributions.
Alfaro used her struggle with finding affordable food to help others. She joined Bobcat Bounty as a volunteer and now helps manage the on-campus free food pantry that served about 180 students per week in 2022. However, this year, the weekly pantry distribution average has been about 220 students. Alfaro said there is an evident need.
“Our outreach has been very consistent,” Alfaro said. “We see more people coming and needing more food.”
Hays County Food Bank is Bobcat Bounty’s main partner, with most of the food coming from the local facility. Forty additional food pantries in the Hays County area receive food from the Hays County Food Bank.
“They ended up giving us a limit of 150 households for the whole year because they have other facilities where they give food,” Alfaro said. “So that’s why we have to restrict [food] so we can be able to provide all of the choices to every person in line.”
The increasing number of students attending the weekly distributions and the amount of food they receive results in the staff having to limit the quantity each student can have.
Bobcat Bounty has opened four permanent food cupboards across the Texas State campus that hold various shelf-stable food to ensure students can access food outside its Thursday distributions.
The only requirement to receive food from the Bobcat Bounty cupboards or weekly distributions is to fill out its food pantry survey.
College is a very social time in young adults’ lives, and socializing often involves gathering at restaurants. For students with financial constraints, eating out or buying enough food at grocery stores adds to their struggles.
A study from the Universiti Putra Malaysia found that food-insecure students have higher levels of stress, anxiety and depression.
Texas State Senior Yessica Matadamas is one of many students who has felt the repercussions of rising food costs cutting into her social life. Matadamas said that college students are overlooked regarding food insecurity.
“I believe that people tend to forget college students are trying to navigate their lives, education and also managing their finances,” Matadamas said. “A lot of us don’t have the resources needed when it comes to financial needs.”
One solution her friend group found is hosting dinner potlucks at each other’s places. She said being surrounded by her friends and eating a meal they made together is more memorable than constantly going out.
The Hays County Food Bank is no stranger to this growing number of food-insecure individuals. On Nov. 27, the facility served 310 households within its two-hour distribution.
The food bank has seen an increase in younger individuals visiting their weekly distributions, said Iris Tate, development manager at Hays County Food Bank.
“I think it’s all about awareness,” Tate said. “A lot of people that I interact with coming to our food distributions mention that it’s their first time and have never heard of our services or Bobcat Bounty.”
Tate graduated from Texas State in 2020 and said she wasn’t aware of Bobcat Bounty while she attended. She said marketing food assistance programs is a community collaboration that the food bank and Bobcat Bounty can continue to improve on.
The Hays County Food Bank operates out of a 2,200-square-foot house in a residential neighborhood and needs more storage space to accept larger donations.
In December 2022, the Hays County Commissioners Court awarded the food bank $1.2 million dollars to open a new facility. The Hays County Food Bank will celebrate its 40th anniversary next year and begin fundraising for the new building.
“We are grateful to have the support of our community when we’re gearing up for that campaign,” Tate said. “It’s going to take a lot of support, corporate donations and getting the new [local] businesses involved.”
