Timmy Tran, social service navigator and food pantry coordinator, working at his desk in the office of the food pantry with orders and boxes of product around.
STORY BY BELLA GARCIA, CO-EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
PHOTO BY GABI GARCIA, CO-EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Student need and inclusion of more services offered has led to increased student utilization of Cypress College’s Food Pantry and the Charger’s Diaper Pantry, requiring a larger space for the services to operate.
Despite expansion from a 10×10 foot closet space to a 1,000 square foot room, Cypress College’s Food Pantry and Diaper Pantry require more space to fulfill student orders.
Once a month, students can submit requests for personal hygiene products including laundry detergent, dish soap, feminine products, toothpaste, and more. Students with children can submit a separate request for diapers to receive 75 diapers per child.
To submit a request, students can scan the QR code on fliers found across campus to be directed to a form that allows each individual to pick the specific items they want. The form is open from Tuesday at 9:30 a.m. to Thursday at 4:30 p.m. every week. To utilize the basic needs resource center and diaper pantry, Cypress must be the student’s home campus.
Diapers and other basic need products stored in Dani Morgan and Timmy Tran’s office.
Dani Morgan, the Special Projects Manager for the Basic Needs Center, transferred from working as an administrative assistant to former Cypress College President Dr. Schilling to working for the diaper pantry. She feels lucky to interact with and provide resources to students, a responsibility that lacked in her previous role.
“There are just so many orders and not enough shelves to put them on,” Morgan said regarding the space provided for the diaper pantry. She continued, “That [10×10] office is where me and Timmy [Tran] work. It is both of our office and we put all of the student orders in there and it is where we store all the diapers.”
Timmy Tran, social service navigator, and the food pantry coordinator, noted the importance of space as well. “[The space] is still an issue,” Tran said. “Since we are trying to source more food, we need more space to store the backstock and right now we’re trying to have more space to make it look like a supermarket.”
The food pantry on campus has worked with the nonprofit organization Pathways of Hope to provide housing navigation and food distribution services to students facing housing and food insecurity.
In terms of housing navigation, Pathways of Hope and Cypress College prevention funding provides financial assistance to students who have fallen behind on rent or need help with housing deposits for new units. They also connect CalOptima enrolled students to CalAIM Community Support to receive additional housing assistance.
In addition, they connect unhoused students to a coordinated entry system which is a system of care that connects unhoused individuals to housing programs such as time-limited rental assistance, ongoing rental assistance, bed shelters, and other supportive services.
As for the food pantry on campus, students are required to register for the semester during their first visit to the pantry which will only take a couple of minutes. From there on students will just have to check-in with a team member to shop. It is open every Wednesday and Thursday from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. and 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.
The food pantry is supported by Second Harvest Food Bank in Irvine, their main supplier, which provides them with produce including eggs, frozen protein, and canned items. In addition, the Grocery Rescue Program works with supermarkets including Trader Joe’s, Northgate Market, Vons, and Food For Less to provide frozen meals, frozen food, meat, and more. Bracken’s Kitchen is another nonprofit that provides frozen meals that can be microwaved and ready to eat.
Student entering Cypress College Food Pantry next to the Veteran’s Resource Center during re-opening at approximately 2:00 p.m. Wednesday, March 13.
Unlike the diaper pantry, to utilize the food pantry students can be NOCE or Fullerton College students but they do need to be enrolled in at least one unit at Cypress.
“Our goal is to provide a service to students who experience [food and housing] insecurities,” he continued, “We try our best to give them as much food as we can and a more balanced diet.”
While the need on campus for the services provided has exceeded the growth of the space provided to operate, Morgan doesn’t exactly know how students are finding out about it now.
“All I know is of the flyers that we put out on campus, but other than that I’m really not too sure how the word gets out.” Previously, the former basic needs coordinator advertised the services to students by visiting classrooms but Morgan hasn’t had the chance because “Right now there are just so many orders and the space is too small.”
Currently, the food pantry works with student life and leadership to advertise its services and encourage students to use the food pantry.
“We used to have this tiny space as the food pantry and we were doing bags. We were only serving 50 students at a time. Since we began to outsource more food and offer more services, we’ve seen that number grow by a lot,” Tran said.
In the two years that Tran has worked as the food pantry coordinator, the number of students served has grown from 50 to around 350 students.
With the increase in student needs, student employees and volunteers are vital to the operation of the pantries.
In the diaper pantry, Morgan writes each individual’s orders and the student workers are the ones who pack and assemble the orders.
Student orders awaiting pickup in the food pantry office in the Student Life and Leadership building.
Student employees in the food pantry check students in, help with registration for the pantry, and put away the donations and orders received.
In addition, the agency sources volunteers from all over Orange County to help the pantry carry out operations. Tran said, “Volunteers are really important to us because they allow us to do our own work. So for my housing work, I am able to also connect with students to do case management, connect them to community resources, or provide them with financial assistance for rent.”
Even with the amount of help the pantries receive, carrying out operations continues to be a difficult undertaking with the limited space even after expansion. Regardless, Tran wants to ensure the pantries provide students with their services.
“We are aware that students might feel ashamed to utilize the food pantry, but we try our best to make them more comfortable using our services and try to welcome them with open arms,” Tran said.