LaGuardia Community College
sets up Single Stop food pantry
www.qns.com I LIC COURIER I MARCH 2019 25
BY BILL PARRY
LaGuardia Community College launched
a food drive at the end of February to
fill its on-campus pantry serving the
school’s 50,000 students, a majority
of whom struggle to make ends meet.
In addition to non-perishable food
other items that are needed include toiletries, childcare
items and household supplies, and clothes that would
allow students to dress appropriately for job interviews.
“More than 70 percent of our student body come
from families making less than $30,000 a year,”
LaGuardia Community College Director of Food
and Nutrition Programs Nicolle Fernandes said.
“And many of these students are older and support
families of their own and our Single Stop is available
to all of them.”
The Single Stop is a on-stop shop for students
needing emergency assistance. Its staff helps stu-dents
sign-up for public benefits, find safe housing,
and refers them to the College Foundation where
they can apply for emergency funds.
“Single Stop runs our food pantry and we are doing
this food drive to help restock its shelves,” Fernandes
said. The pantry provides hungry students with food
they can eat here on campus or bring home to make
meals for their families. Nearly 1 in 4 Laguardia
students receive support from Single Stop. That’s
nearly 5,000 students each year.”
She said that demand for the food pantry has risen
significantly in recent months.
“I don’t have specific data to back this up but we
noticed a dramatic increase in demand during the
federal government shutdown in January,” Fernandes
said. “At the beginning of the year the number of
students seeking food pantry items rose 25 percent.”
Members of the community can make in-person
donations through March 20 at the college’s welcome
desk, located in the lobby of Shenker Hall at 31-10
Thomson Avenue in Long Island City. Donations
can be made online at https://www.laguardia.edu/
fooddrive/.
“So many of our students also work full-time
jobs as they juggle their academic career and the
majority come from families who are struggling to
make ends meet,” Fernandes said. “We don’t want
our students to have to decide between a meal and
a subway ride home.”
Community News
Courtesy of Speaker's office
Courtesy of Mamadou Diallo/LaGuardia Community College
The Single Stop at LaGuardia Community College provides food to students in need but it
shelves are nearly empty and an emergency food drive was launched at the end of February
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