Food Pantry with Matthew Santos

Matt Benoit: This episode was recorded on July 18th 2018 and some details about the food pantry have changed since we recorded this. The food pantry is now located in the Campus Center. Be sure to check your student email to find out more information on the food pantry program.
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Matt Benoit: Welcome to Bellingham Technical College’s Money$marts Podcast. I’m your host, Matt Benoit and each episode we will talk with BTC students, staff, community professionals and financial experts about financial literacy and wellness in order to help listeners navigate resources in the community and empower themselves, financially. And today, we’re talking to Matthew Santos, involved with BTC’s food pantry program. How are you doing?
Matthew Santos: Outstanding. How about yourself?
Matt Benoit: Good. Doing very well. So, tell me a little bit about your position at Bellingham Technical College and how you got involved in the food pantry program? 
Matthew Santos: Sure, so right now I serve as the Interim Executive Director for Student Entry and Support Services. So that’s working with several departments: Advising, Career Services, Admissions, Running Start, Assessment Center and Student Life. Student Life and our Associated Students of Bellingham Technical College is the area managing the food pantry and so that’s where I had came from into the current position I’m in. I came from Student Life and so in Student Life, I was working for the food pantry.
Matt Benoit: So, if a student is looking to access food pantry services, kind of just like, what’s a walk-through of what they need to do? Where do they start?
Matthew Santos: Sure, so once we get our hours advertised and posted. They can definitely just show up during the hours that it is open and accessible. And if for some reason they’re not able to do so during those hours, or don’t know that it – that those hours exist or that the food pantry exists. And that’s usually the case right now. So what usually ends up happening is they’re identified by a faculty or staff member and they’re either sent my direction or what we’ve done is tried to provide sort of an open house for faculty and staff so they can see the space too. So, folks that have a key to that space will just walk students down there themselves. And then – so once a student gets to that space, we have some reusable bags down there where sometimes a student may have their own bag or use their backpack. And we have a couple cabinets that are stocked with mostly canned goods, a lot of different food items. We see that peanut butter is really popular, we try to keep a good amount of proteins, pasta, pasta sauces, we’ve got toiletries, pet food. So, folks will come in, we’ll try and hand them a reusable bag from the cabinets. And we’ll let me know, “just grab what you need” and once they get what they need and say they’re good, we just say “come back when you need to access it again.”
Matt Benoit: Where does the food come from? How does the food pantry get its food? Who donates?
Matthew Santos: Sure. There’s a couple sources, one just being food donations, and other donations that we get from folks across campus. So, we have some very active student clubs and student groups. So for example our Rad Tech club, they had brought several donations last year. As a club to our student food pantry. So they would come in quarterly with just bags of groceries. We get stuff from faculty and staff on a regular basis. They’ll just email asking, what items does the food pantry need? You know, they’re doing a Costco run, something like that. And then the other big one is through the combined fund drive. That being faculty and staff making donations through payroll deductions and then those funds live with our BTC Foundation, and so occasionally we’ll reach out to the BTC Foundation and let them know “we’ve got some dietary needs of students accessing this” or we may have some specific items that we’re running low on that we see are very popular. So we’ll use those funds to go get those items. 
Matt Benoit: Now, can anyone donate to the food pantry if they’re interested?
Matthew Santos: Sure, so folks who donate usually will bring the items to our Student Center. So here in Campus Center 300. Folks will drop off donations there. So we’ll just take whatever, if folks want specific items that are popular or that we are in need of they can email asbtc@btc.edu. And we can get them details there. And sometimes we just need help arranging the shelves. Or bagging some lunch items, so there’s certain programs that we like to keep equipped with brown bag lunches or even maybe some breakfast items where students come in and maybe say “hey, I missed a meal” or maybe someone, an advisor or a coach, someone who works regularly with the student recognizes that a student is having a hard time focusing and through conversation learns that maybe that student missed breakfast. And so, having the ability to provide them a quick, you know, here’s a brown bag lunch, with some things. Really helps get the student back on track for the day.
Matt Benoit: So when we talk about these brown bag lunches, what exactly is in them? A sandwich, chips, cookie? What kind of – what do you put in there?
Matthew Santos: Unfortunately, we are not at a point yet where we can have perishable items, we are sticking to non-perishables right now. Usually, for the lunches it’s – we’re looking at things, maybe a cup and noodles, Nutrigrain bar, some sort of bar like that. We’ll do a cup of fruits. And we’ve done instant coffee in those. Maybe sometimes there’s a, a fruit puree pouch or something like that. And then, we usually include some kind of plastic ware and then a list of local resources where students are able to access food off of campus. 
Matt Benoit: Okay, so what are some of those other resources?
Matthew Santos: Sure, so the biggest thing we try to communicate to students is that we are a supplement to the Bellingham Food Bank or just the county food banks. So earlier last year we went and toured the Bellingham Food Bank and had a talk with them about what we’re doing. And they were pretty candid with us in saying that our efforts are admirable but they’re the best game in town. And I would absolutely agree with that. We can’t compete with them and they can provide students with a lot more resources. We’re only trying to supplement that. And we definitely let students know that the best resources available to them would be the local food banks and so just trying to provide them with information of when those are accessible, where those are, how they can access them, what some of those options are. And then for folks who maybe have children or other needs, just letting them know some of those resources that are available too.
Matt Benoit: Okay. Yeah, and of course the Bellingham Food Bank, I know the one location is off of Ohio St. down there not too far from Bellingham High School. And there are other resources in the county as well. Now, I understand that the community garden will be supplementing produce, you talk about just using nonperishables right now but moving towards possibly doing some perishable items like supplementing produce for the food pantry. What’s going on with that? 
Matthew Santos: Sure, so that’s happened a couple of times. And there’s definitely some interest in growing that a little more. So, I know in the past…
Matt Benoit: Literally growing that…
Matthew Santos: Yeah, exactly, exactly! So, our food garden a couple years ago donated a bunch of potatoes and that was an item that we were able to provide students. They’ve grown other things. And so, ultimately, that’s a really awesome opportunity for students to get involved because it’s students out there helping plant and helping just grow the vegetables, work in that garden, get that experience. And maybe see some of that, see it through to helping the BTC community when those items are then donated for students to access.  
Matt Benoit: So, is the BTC food pantry open to the entire community? Or just BTC students?
Matthew Santos: Sure, so we say it’s open to the BTC campus community. We’re not looking for any one’s ID card or anything when they come in. Usually, we’ve seen, mostly students access it. So, someone will come and either let me know or let another staff member that they work with or faculty member that they work with know, “Hey, I’ve heard of the food pantry” or “I’d like to access the food pantry” or someone lets them know about the food pantry. We try and really protect that anonymity. We don’t want to, we don’t want to shame anyone for accessing that. We want to provide them, we recognize that there’s some food insecurities there and we just want to get folks what they need and every student that I’ve worked with for that is really grateful and appreciative. And so we definitely try and promote that resource as much as we can especially at New Student Orientation, reminding students that that resource is there, sending out an email to all campus so faculty and staff know and they can let their students know that that resource is available to them. And then we try to hold hours that it’s open so, last year we were fortunate enough to have a Work Study who was able to staff that space on a pretty regular basis. And then that lets students know that – here’s hours that you can access it, otherwise it’s on request. 
Matt Benoit: Okay, so what are the hours, in general?
Matthew Santos: During the summer it is by request only and so then come fall we’ll look to hopefully have another Work Study in that space and then we’ll advertise out to campus, you know, “here’s the hours that the food pantry will be open this quarter.”
Matt Benoit: Okay, so in other words, on a quarterly basis just look for a poster or something that’s going to say, “Hey, here’s the hours”…
Matthew Santos: Absolutely. And that’s another one where folks are wondering what the hours are they can email asbtc@btc.edu email or you know, they can just try and talk to some of the staff and we’ll get them hooked up with the right person.
Matt Benoit: So, it is hard to ask for help. And I think for a lot of people it’s easy to feel shame, it’s easy to feel stigma towards seeking something that basic, you know. If you’re trying to make your own way and you don’t want to admit that, “boy, I really need some help.” So, how do you destigmatize asking for help?
Matthew Santos: Yeah, absolutely. We definitely see that with students who are reluctant to voice that or reluctant to even access the services, or they might come in and just grab one or two things and say that’s all they really need. But we want to encourage them that, that again, this resource is there. We’re not tracking any data, we’re not tracking any student information, we just want to make sure that our students have the ability to be successful. When a lot of that is having your basic needs met. And so we just want to encourage them to get their basic needs met and let us help them do that. I think that we – while I say that the Bellingham Food Bank’s a great resource, the bus line from Bellingham Technical College to the rest of Bellingham and Whatcom County isn’t ideal. And so, being able to provide students that supplemental resource, until they can access other resources is really important. So, knowing that we could provide them that potential stop-gap, whether it be until they can get to the food bank or whether it be until they get their next paycheck. We definitely want to try to remove those barriers and whatever stigma exists.
Matt Benoit: Awesome. And yeah, like you said, you guys are not keeping track, they’re not signing their names. They’re not giving their emails away to get spam mail. This is completely anonymous and a free service that anyone who needs help should take advantage of. 
Matthew Santos: Absolutely. You totally nailed it. We’re not – I’m not following up, none of that. You know, we might, might see a student on campus and follow up in person just to make sure that they’re okay and encourage them to continue accessing whatever resources are available. But it’s just really helpful because sometimes something like that may let us know of other resources that a student may need and so it gives us an opportunity to tell them, here are some other resources that exist on campus also, or in the community that you could be taking advantage of.
Matt Benoit: A 2018 study by the Wisconsin HOPE lab found that 36% of college students nationwide say they are food insecure. So why do you think hunger on college campuses is such a pervasive issue?
Matthew Santos: In general, I think, just looking at the general college student – a lot of our students are having to decide, and this is often what we hear too, is that they’re having to decide where their money’s going to go. We’ve got students who are prioritizing their education, and so whether it be paying for the gas to get here or paying for tools, supplies, books, and then maybe just other living expenses, they’re jeopardizing them, or they don’t have the extra income to then make ends meet for food. And so that’s where we are seeing, you know they don’t have a few dollars to get food on campus here or something like that. And so, that’s why they’re looking to access the food pantry. I think BTC definitely has a unique student population and a few things we see is, where we get, students who are parents, and again having to prioritize. And when you’re prioritizing your studies, you’re not able to work as much, and needing some additional support to help support yourself, support your family. So, it’s great when we get students who access the food pantry and say “I’ve got some kids.” So definitely, we try and encourage them to take some items home for their whole family. Like I said, folks with pets, who aren’t able to get pet food, that’s a really awesome resource that our Vet Tech program is providing us by giving us that. You know, we have a youth reengagement program here and that’s something that I don’t think folks realize where, you know you get a lot of students who were in high school that aren’t in high school now and had access to free and reduced lunch and we’re not providing free and reduced lunch as a technical college. And so sometimes, when folks don’t have that resource anymore, they’re trying to find other ways to access food.
Matt Benoit: So, is there anything else you wanted to add that you think people should know about the BTC food pantry?
Matthew Santos: It’s a great resource, I think it’s, it’s fabulous that we have so many faculty and staff that are just overwhelmingly supportive of it. Like I said, it’s just great that folks regularly reach out to us and ask, “How can we support this? What can we do?” Making sure that we have what we need to continue to serve students. And we’ve been able to grow it enough to where, you know, if a student reaches out to us and expresses that they have dietary needs or some special requests, we’re able to accommodate some of that and we continue to look at ways that we can improve that service to students. And so, we just want to make sure they we don’t have students going hungry because we definitely have a campus community that cares and wants to see our students be successful. And this is absolutely a way that we continue to help our students to be successful. And so the more resources that we can remind them of that we offer, I think the better opportunities we’re providing them to get to graduation and get to where they want to be personally and professionally.  
Matt Benoit: It’s a great service and thank you so much for being on the podcast to talk about it. Thanks for listening to this episode of the BTC Money$marts podcast, be sure to check out all our episodes on the BTC website. They’re loaded with stories, tips, tricks and strategies for financial literacy. This podcast is produced by Cheryl Kennedy with music courtesy of Bensound.com. I’m Matt Benoit, see you next time!