MState fueling student success with campus food pantry

“There’s a lot of hats that (students) are wearing,” said MState social worker Tyler Strand. “If we can address those critical needs they can stay focused and finish that degree.”

Food insecurity comes and goes, but there are always local services ready to help. 

That help can take many different forms, according to Tyler Strand, a social worker with Minnesota State Community and Technical College (MState). Sometimes assistance is needed for a brief time and other times it’s needed on a long term, consistent basis. 

Tyler helps run the on campus food pantry at MState, which is available for free to any enrolled student who needs it. There are no income requirements, he said, noting that anyone can stop in during the week for a quick snack or to pick up some items to help supplement their monthly grocery bill.

“It’s for everybody,” Tyler said. “My biggest hope and goal is that it just kind of normalizes the experience.”

This one-stop shop is on the grow, with plans to turn the campus food pantry into a service hub for any student. 

To be academically successful students need to have their basic needs met, Tyler said, which include food, housing, childcare, transportation, as well as access to technology and the internet. 

Not every MState student has access to one or more of those essentials, he said, but all of them have the drive to pursue a higher education and meet their goals. 

As a social worker, Tyler is responsible for working with students to help solve anything they experience in life: on or off campus. 

“There’s a lot of hats that they are wearing, if we can address those critical needs they can stay focused and finish that degree,” Tyler said.

One way MState is working to support the success of students is through the on campus food pantry. 

What once was a covid-era shelf in the library stocked with dry goods has turned into a robust model for fighting student food insecurity.

Inside the food pantry, students are able to access a range of food and hygiene supplies. Often the pantry partners with local nonprofits like Heart and Soul Community Cafe to provide bagged lunches for learners.

Similar to Churches United’s Dorothy Day Food Pantry, MState students are able to pick out the foods and supplies that best fit their personal preference when visiting the on campus food pantry. 

The need for the food pantry’s services has increased year after year, Tyler said, as inflation and the financial climate makes it harder for students to make ends meet. 

Students enrolled in MState’s nursing program, Tyler said, are especially impacted because, as part of their degree. Student nurses must complete a strict clinical rotation that can be very time intensive, he said. As a result, students with children face additional hurdles due to the rising cost of childcare and students with jobs have fewer available hours available to work. 

To combat this, MState has created a grant program for students to help parents afford childcare as well as other necessities like new carseats while working through their clinical rotations. 

The village at MState makes all this happen, Tyler said, with facility, students, and staff alike pitching in to support one another. 

Last fall, the automotive technology students provided a vehicle for the “Fill the Car” food drive event that was organized with the help of the student government. 

The event brought in over 1,300 pounds of food! 

In addition, Tyler said, MState’s facility, staff and students help unload the weekly delivery of between 500 to 700 pounds of food donated through the retail rescue program from the Walmart on 13th Ave S in Fargo. The campus also purchases an order of food from the Great Plains Food Bank each month to stock the shelves, Tyler said, as well as pick up quick snack items from Costco for the busy student on the go. 

Having a food pantry on campus is a game changer for students; it eliminates some transportation barriers and saves busy learners time. 

“The more support and resources that we’re able to present to them the better,” Tyler said. “That’s what we want to really achieve.”