WINSTED, CT – May 28, 2020 – Northwestern Connecticut Community College’s student food pantry, Food for Thought, recently received a much-needed boost to its ability to support students in need, thanks to the timely intervention from Stop & Shop and the overwhelming generosity of the NCCC faculty and staff. The college food pantry was founded in 2017 by Alpha Nu Epsilon, NCCC’s chapter of the international honor society Phi Theta Kappa (PTK) and is managed by the chapter’s advisors, Professors Crystal Wiggins and Todd Bryda. The suddenness of the recent pandemic has temporarily closed the pantry but has not stopped its commitment to NCCC’s student body.
Always looking for new avenues of funding and support, the PTK advisors along with Ms. Michelle Zipke, then student president of PTK, reached out to local supermarkets for help in 2018. Ms. Zipke’s letter of appeal was eventually addressed by Stop & Shop through a new corporate program designed to help those working with food insecurity issues. In March 2020, Ms. Maura O’Brien, Manager of Community Relations for Stop & Shop, met with Professors Bryda and Wiggins to discuss working with the college. According to Bryda, Ms. O’Brien was “incredibly impressed with our organization, fundraising, and the overall atmosphere of our pantry.” On behalf of Stop & Shop, O’Brien agreed to work with the pantry, but then the pandemic struck, and the college was closed.
Like the rest of the country, Food for Thought struggles to provide help for students while the campus is closed. Typically, the Stop & Shop program provides on-campus support for pantries, but these are not typical times. Ms. O’Brien agreed to immediately send $2,500.00 in gift cards while Wiggins and Bryda organized the logistics of getting the cards into the hands of needy students. Dr. Michael Rooke, President of NCCC, informed the entire student body of the program via text message. Within 3 hours of sending out the information about Stop & Shop’s program, the advisors were shocked to receive 45 requests for help. Upon learning about this demand for assistance, Maura O’Brien immediately responded by providing an additional $1,500 in gift cards for distribution. “We recognize the important role that food pantries play in the lives of students and their families. We felt it was integral that we offer additional aid to the NCCC food pantry as they continue to work with those economically impacted by COVID-19 by ensuring that they have access to food,” said O’Brien.
Even with the additional help from Stop & Shop, the requests for help from students continued to arrive. After reading the heartrending stories from NCCC’s students and seeing a need for even more funding, Bryda and Wiggins decided to start an emergency fundraising campaign among the college faculty and staff. Using the online site PayPal, Wiggins and Bryda reached out to their colleagues for help. Within 3 days, the PayPal Money Pool raised over $2,000.00. By the middle of April, the campaign raised over $3,800.00.
This emergency program has been very successful in providing students with some much-needed help. To date, the program has gathered over $8,800.00 in support and served 80 students. Students apply for aid via an online form. The request is then evaluated by the advisors. After assessing the individual applicant’s need, the advisors mail gift cards to students directly. The program is still ongoing and will remain active while the funding exists. If you are interested in donating to this program, please visit this link, https://paypal.me/pools/c/8nWUsTpNGY. Any questions about this program or Food for Thought should be directed to the advisors, cwiggins@nwcc.commnet.edu or tbryda@nwcc.commnet.edu.
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