Delaware County Community College triples the size of its food pantry and student resource facility

MEDIA, Pa. (KYW Newsradio) — Delaware County Community College has expanded its food pantry and resource center to help eradicate food insecurity among students.

Dr. Kendrick Mickens, who runs the food pantry, said it has grown a lot over the last four years.

“We started on a smaller scale,” he said, but that scale has grown to include partnerships with Wawa and Philabundance to help feed a student population that was 29% food insecure.

“Almost 50% of the students said if we offered food within a food pantry to address food insecurity, they would use it,” he said.

Based on that 2019 poll, DCCC launched the pantry, and it has since distributed more than 2,000 pounds of food per month.

To accommodate the growing enterprise, the center recently moved into a new 1,000-square-foot facility — more than three times larger than its last space.

“Last year, we had 2,400 student visits during the course of the year, which is pretty huge,” he said. “But we didn’t have the space and we had boxes on top of boxes. It was just very hard to operate in that environment.

“Our first week here of the semester, we had over 300 students visit the center, which was double what we had last year.”

The new facility was officially renamed the Essential Student Resource Center and Food Pantry . Mickens said he’s already seen an uptick in students utilizing the pantry, which offers not only food but also feminine hygiene products, toiletries and school supplies.

“If you’re hungry, it’s hard to focus and do your best,” Mickens added. “Now, we don’t have students walking around here hungry anymore.”

The facility also recently received a $75,000 gift from Aqua .

The food pantry accounts for 70% of visits to the Essential Student Resource Center, according to DCCC. The larger space allows it to serve up to 15% more students and increase Philabundance food orders from 2,000 to 2,500 pounds a month.