MCC Acts Against Student Food and Housing Insecurity

Meeting the needs of students requires more than academic or intellectual stimulation – bodies need to be nourished and sheltered in order to flourish.

A Wisconsin Hope Lab survey taken in 2017 by Middlesex Community College students revealed 41% of the students experienced food insecurity within the previous year. In response, the college expanded the food pantries they opened on both the Bedford and Lowell campuses in December 2016. This was just the start of a new initiative – and conversations – for the college.

Jonathan Crockett has been with MCC for 13 years. In August, he was instituted as Coordinator of Essential Student Needs and Community Resources. While he runs the food pantries, Crockett also works with students, employees and community partners to raise awareness of the need for, and the presence of, food and housing resources for the MCC community.

“There’s a perception that once you’ve arrived at a place in your life of being able to go to college, you’re beyond some of those basic needs, you’ve arrived at a new place of financial security, an independence of stability,” he said. “And that’s just not a safe assumption.”

Every Wednesday throughout the Fall semester, Crockett and volunteers hand out donations of fresh produce on campus, like apples or onions. By accepting the free food, hundreds of MCC students, faculty and staff become part of the food pantry, which helps to raise awareness of and destigmatize food insecurity.

In addition to on-campus donations, Crockett believes partnering with local businesses and organizations allows MCC to reach more students. Merrimack Valley Food Bank provides 75% of the resources in the pantries, including 20 frozen turkeys for Thanksgiving. This year, the Manolis Foundation will also supply 50 students with Free Thanksgiving Baskets that include a frozen turkey and all the side ingredients. Within 24 hours of posting, all baskets were claimed.

The need also extends to the Bedford campus. Bedford Rotary Club member Diana Jarvis recently delivered a $1,000 donation check to the MCC food pantries. She said, “The Rotary would like to help Middlesex and its students however we can.” The Bedford Rotary Club is also interested in having further conversations about how they can support MCC students dealing with housing insecurity and homelessness.

Opening the pantries allows students to have a safe place to go without having to suffer in silence. Witnessing the reality and prevalence of food insecurity also alerted the school to other pressing and distressing issues.

A 2019 Massachusetts pilot program addresses the need for affordable housing in higher education. The program pairs state and community colleges to provide housing for five active students in need. Last year, Middlesex received two beds, while its counterpart UMass Lowell had three. Crockett believes the program made a difference.

“Not surprisingly, but thankfully, we discovered that their experience of being in stable, permanent, safe housing had a tremendous impact on their academic and personal experiences for both students coming from situations of homelessness or housing insecurity into a more stable situation,” Crockett said.

For Crockett, it’s important to be in a position to have a conversation with students. He helps students think about their housing situation – who they can move in with, who can help them – as well as their financial situation – how to budget or how to navigate the apartment renting process.

“I’ll sit down with students to learn more about their circumstances, more about their needs and what’s happening in their lives,” he said. “And then the work that I do is try to figure out how to connect them with the support and resources that make the most sense for them. Sometimes those supports are here at the college, different departments or resources that we might have. Sometimes it’s in the community, sometimes both.”

An important aspect of Crockett’s job is to assist faculty and staff in looking out for signs of a student struggling. This might include a throwaway comment, insinuation in a reflective paper or a sudden change of academic or personal behavior or unidentified stress.

He said, “During classroom visits, having this sort of conversation reminds people that even if you’re not dealing with this now as a struggle, many people around you are and that most of us are one or two paychecks away from – or one medical incident away from – needing help.

“I’m excited to continue to shift and build a culture where we recognize as a community that needs exist and then we work collaboratively as both the student population and the employee population to figure out how to take care of each other.”

The Lowell Campus Food Pantry is open 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Mondays and Tuesdays and is located inside the Lowell Student Lounge (213A). The Bedford Campus Food Pantry is open 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Wednesdays and Thursdays in Bedford House (Building 5), Room BH 103.

The pantries offer supplemental food items, such as canned soups, vegetables and fruit; rice and pasta; milk, cheese, eggs and some frozen and fresh foods like ground turkey and produce; as well as personal hygiene items.

The MCC Food Pantries provide volunteer opportunities for those who would like to offer support, including monetary or in-kind donations. For more information, visit www.middlesex.mass.edu/studentlife/mccfoodpantry/ or email foodpantry@middlesex.mass.edu. For more information on food/housing resources, contact Jonathan Crockett at crockettj@middlesex.mass.edu.

Discover your path at Middlesex Community College. As one of the largest, most comprehensive community colleges in Massachusetts, we educate, engage and empower a diverse community of learners. MCC offers more than 80 degree and certificate programs – plus hundreds of noncredit courses – on our campuses in Bedford and Lowell, and online. Middlesex Community College: Student success starts here!