The Mindful Market: A Food Resource for Students

 

Byline: Staff (or leave blank)

“It gives me goosebumps talking about it.” 

The single-minded focus of Student Leadership Council event planner Katelynn Anstey turns more emotional.

“It’s so important to me. I know a couple of students that after working at school all day have to try and find a bus route that can get them to a food pantry before it closes, and then they have to lug all of that food home.” 

Anstey is overseeing tables lined with rows of paper bags full of five different meal options in the Commons Cafeteria on LBCC’s Albany campus. This is what the SLC is calling the Mindful Market. Monday the afternoon of Jan. 12 was its debut. They hope to continue the project, but there are some snags.

“I think that (a free market) should be available on campus. That was why I decided to set it up on my own,” said Anstey.

“The Mindful Market is definitely a project that the whole SLC is very involved in,” SLC presidential candidate Jaxon Lee explained. 

Anstey started her planning in the middle of the summer. And yet, she says, “I couldn’t get any of the food” until a few days before the event “because the administration doesn’t want us storing all of this food. We brought it all up here this morning. We just stored it where we could in the student union. I basically used my whole budget” to purchase the food.

In the future Anstey would like to get donations, but first, she was told, she has to talk to the school's foundation to ensure there is no fundraising conflict. 

“We have set funds to help assist with this, that we could maintain a food pantry on campus, but so far we don’t have permission from administration to start something permanent,” current SLC President Lileanna Johnson said. “We’re trying to use that money more effectively, instead of providing pizza once a month, having you come pick up a meal kit or two each week.”

“There are 17 community colleges in Oregon,” Johnson said. “All of the other community colleges have a food pantry on campus or they have a direct connection with a local food pantry. LB is standing out as we actively don't have a food pantry on our campus and we are one of the larger community colleges in Oregon, so it does raise some flags for us in student leadership. Why are we the only one out?  Why are we not supporting our students in the way that the other community colleges are? Also, LB is in a unique spot, as we’re not close to many food sources.”

“We’ve interviewed so far with Mount Hood, Western, Oregon State University, Portland Community College. And we’ve toured two of their pantries. And at the end of the month Portland State,” Lee said. “They’re doing great work for their community. It’s almost awe-inspiring. Just seeing those places brings so much more joy and passion to what we’re doing. We would love to mirror what they’re doing to better serve our students.” 

The challenge? “Minor things, logistics,” like the issue of space, said Lee.

Anstey’s take on the reason for the lack of school support – “Pest problems, that’s the only reason that I know of.” 

Johnson also had some details on LBCC’s pantry history. The institutional “push back?” “The reason’s mostly rats, who’s going to run it, and funding sources,” she said.

It wasn’t always this way. There was a food pantry previously in the back of RoastRunners, the campus coffee shop adjacent to the student union. Back then students got “whatever we thought they would need and that created more waste than help and students weren’t exactly a fan of that. Then when the pandemic hit it wasn’t cleaned out properly and so it got shut down,” said Johnson.

Anstey has solutions to the concerns. They will start with cans and materials that rodents can’t chew through, she explained. For the Mindful Market she focused on a variety of food for specific diets and took note of what students like the most. She plans on showing the numbers to the administration.

“We’re really hoping to get data because it seems the administration isn’t quite understanding the gravity of student need, especially with current rising cost in tuition and life in general,” said Johnson.

Meanwhile, Lee said, “I know for a fact that the school does collect this information. I know that the school has a program specifically designed to gather data on campus.  We are not in the business of diminishing that work. We absolutely are on board with what they’re doing.”

“Hungry students, they disappear. They just drop out. They’re not failing, but they have to choose between school and food. They have to choose food,” said Ansley. “If you’re actively trying to get a better education, food shouldn’t be a worry.”

“This is something that we want to build and make sustainable to last years from now, years down the line when we’re all gone and have our degrees and made careers and lives and names of ourselves,” said Lee. “This is about the bigger picture.”

The food bags left over from the event were moved to the student union, still available to students. The student union is on the ground floor, facing the courtyard of the Albany campus. Remaining food will be donated to a food pantry.