The Roanoker - November/December 2019 - 18

Virginia Western's new co-op will
encourage students' successes by
alleviating hunger on campus.

V

IRGINIA WESTERN Community College
President Robert Sandel said he didn't realize
the severity of the problem.
In a poll of incoming students enrolled in the
Community College Access Program this year, 17%
admitted to food insecurity. The college estimates as
many as 5,000 students may go hungry on campus
each day.
"I was just blown away by that," Sandel says.
In response, the college and the Virginia Western
Community College Educational Foundation
announced a new food program Wednesday that aims
to alleviate student hunger.
The initiative transformed the college's food pantry,
located in the Maury and Sheila Strauss Family Life

Center, into the Virginia Western Student Co-Op.
Students - and faculty and staff - can choose from
a wide assortment of food to take home based on their
needs. The only requirement is a Virginia Western ID.
The college's student services department is running the
improved food pantry.
Kroger and Kraft Heinz partnered with the college
and the foundation to stock shelves inside the co-op.
The companies each donated $10,000.
David Dantzler, a Kroger executive, says the company
worked with food pantry experts and nutritionists
at Virginia Tech and elsewhere to build the co-op
inventory. Kroger also donated shelves, and reusable
food bags and water bottles with the company's logo.
Dantzler is also a former member of the college
educational foundation's board of directors. He and
Doug Davis, head of field execution for Kraft Heinz,
say the partnership is part of their respective company's
philanthropic efforts.
Dantzler says Kroger worked with food pantry
experts and nutritionists from Virginia Tech to stock
the co-op with healthier options. All of the food is
nonperishable and includes meal ingredients.
According to the college, the partnership is the first
of its kind at the community college level.
The new pantry unofficially opened last week when
the fall semester began at Virginia Western in Roanoke.
The old pantry had only one 6-by-6-foot table and
relied on donations from school employees and students.
The college started the pantry amid a push by the 23
community colleges across the state to address hunger.
In April, the Virginia Community College System
hosted a statewide conference at Hotel Roanoke and
Conference Center focused on homelessness and food
insecurity.
Sandel said it is clear hunger can impede success for
students, especially those already juggling other major
responsibilities in life.
"It is estimated that as many as 50% of Virginia's
community college students suffer from food insecurity,"
Sandel said. "That means instead of concentrating on
their studies, these students are focused on a grumbling
stomach or how they can secure their family's next meal."
Virginia Western hopes to continue its corporate
partnerships to sustain the pantry beyond this school
year, college spokesman Josh Meyer says.
Kroger Corporate Affairs Manager Allison McGee
says the company is willing to help contribute funds to
the program in the future.
The college's educational foundation is also accepting
monetary donations for the pantry.
-DAN SMITH

18

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019

TheRoanoker.com

COURTESY OF VIRGINIA WESTERN COMMUNITY COLLEGE

VWCC Addresses
Food Insecurity
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