In these days that are difficult to deal with, there remains the concerns of food insecurity as the recent government shutdown threatened from the troubles within the federal system in the U.S. and the potential future impacts it may have on federal funded programs such as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, that helps low-income families by providing monthly benefits to buy food. 

Yet there are other things that can be considered a useful idea that contribute to the need for food for students, accommodation or accessibility within the college. 

As you know, it is important for students to have enough food and receive the necessary amount of nutrients both at home and in campus to perform well in schoolwork and all other curricular activities. 

Some community colleges offer free meals to their students.

While ideas are being sought at Northern Essex Community College for a backup plan for food emergencies, we could consider more broad ideas like free meals for students at the campus. Some community colleges like The White Mountains Community College offer programs like Meals IncludED, that provides free daily meals for breakfast and lunch to their students and The Cabinet program is a pantry that offers students, staff and faculty free snacks, pre-packaged meals, and other grab-and-go items, according to the website for the college, www.wmcc.edu.

Already on the Northern Essex Lawrence Campus, we have a food pantry for students located in the Dimitry building. Recently, ideas for a second food pantry or food closet for the Haverhill Campus have pretty much become the most common idea communicated by students and staff.

I personally would propose the idea of another program that may or may not involve a free cafeteria but does provides free fresh cooked or cold meals. 

It is understandable that financially we may not be able to make a cafeteria happen, but my idea is to introduce more ways that we can bring fresh meals to students on at least one of the campuses. 

Maybe volunteers can cook, or students can run the program and the cooking with at least one staff or adviser just as students run The Observer Newspaper. 

At first, I began to think about small ideas to make free ready hot meals possible. One idea would require a good cook volunteer, a room dedicated to the program with all the appliances, food items, dining dishes, etc. 

Another small idea for free ready hot meals is a rice pot, where students can take as much rice as they want straight from a rice cooker, and another idea is toast in the morning that simply are available with a toaster ready for all to use with different varieties of bread.

 The food can be sourced from donations or from the college food pantry. 

Usually, the campuses have available snacks for students to grab and go through the different centers altrouhout the buildings and the food pantry that is accessible by appointment.

The kind of snacks and amount students can take are yet limited and the accessibility to the food pantry resource is more for at home food needs and is also limited on how many times a student can visit during a monthly period. 

Meanwhile the student food vouchers are also limited and are currently only available to use at the UTEC food truck or the Perfect Blend Cafe in the Spurk building. 

The food truck is only at Haverhill campus twice a month and at Lawrence campus twice a month or two Tuesdays a month for each campus.  With the new NECC bookstore, students can also buy snacks meanwhile the selling of hot food is currently under negotiation, it will still cost students and or be available to buy just with the student food vouchers, which usually are never enough.

The important point is that not all students have the money or funds to pay for everyday breakfast and lunch. Even students that do have some money end up running out of it and are not able to pay for food during however many remaining days of the week or month. Our community is not meant to leave anyone in the struggle. We are a community that has the potential to come together and work out beneficial ways to succeed together. 

Money could be used towards more convenient methods that save money and takes care of all students so that they do not have the financial burden on their stomachs which can impact their academic success.