A 2014 study by Georgetown University states that by the year 2020, it is estimated that two-thirds of all jobs in the United States will require education beyond high school. It is simple: to succeed, you must have a college education. If national statistics on hunger hold true at COD, nearly a third of the students make the choice between eating a meal and their education every time they pay tuition. Tuition and the need for college are rising but student income is not.  This results in college students having to purchase much cheaper, unhealthy foods or not eat at all to afford an education along with other living expenses. Students are going to their classes hungry and athletes are going to practices on empty stomachs. It takes away from an education that students pay so much to keep. This issue may seem insignificant, but these types of students are on our very campus. For student and College Wide Coordinator for Phi Theta Kappa (PTK), Hope Drager, this serious issue had a very simple solution: bring a food pantry to campus.

Drager’s job was to find a need on campus and fill that need. During a PTK meeting discussing issues on campus, students mentioned a very successful food pantry at Elgin community college. Talk about bringing a food pantry to campus was started and members of PTK shared their stories of close friends and students who are homeless and have a high need for this type of project. Drager’s first step was getting in contact with other pantries and gathering research to gauge the need in the COD community.

After surveying 750 community members, 100 being athletes, 50 part-time faculty and 600 of the general public, the severe necessity for a pantry was truly realized. Out of the 100 athletes, 57 percent knew somebody who needed assistance and 42 percent had maybe one meal a day or less. The outcome of the surveys changed Drager’s goal from being food focused to also distributing toiletries, clothes, school supplies and other necessities. The pantry, titled “Brain Fuel,” will allow anybody with a COD ID to come in once a week for a “brown bag,” meaning that students as well as faculty and maintenance staff can come in and pick up a brown bag packed with proteins, carbs and healthy foods. Research was gathered from Elgin Community College, Glen Ellyn Food Pantry as well as Loaves and Fishes.

The question of who would run the pantry quickly found an answer when Drager reached out to faculty. “We sent out an email to all the faculty about the food pantry and we got about 40 or so responses from people who are interested in helping,” said Drager. “Lots of organizations on campus require volunteer hours every semester, so this would be a very easy place to get volunteer hours. Also with the Glen Ellyn Food Pantry, they said they have so many volunteers they can’t all fit into their parking lot so they’ll send people over here too.” Not only will the Glen Ellyn Food Pantry help supply volunteers, but also more donations. Drager also hopes to create a large stock foundation of items and a secure financial base prior to opening so the pantry cannot run low in its beginning stages.

The strong need for a food pantry is supported by survey findings, those who would facilitate the pantry are found, but other issues have arisen that have been preventing Brain Fuel from opening, “I wasn’t anticipating it would take this long for the food pantry to even get started, but because of the political situation at College of DuPage, people aren’t really open to giving us money right now or giving us space, so that’s been another really big issue,” explained Drager.

On April 27th the pantry will team up with COD Cares and their Day of Action in hopes to move Drager’s idea forward.