At the November Branch Program, “Deeper in Debt: Women and Student Loans,” we learned from Yolanda Garcia, the Financial Aid Supervisor at Cosumnes River College, that the college is addressing the needs of its homeless and food insecure students by providing a food closet called The Hawk Spot. The food closet, a partnership between the Elk Grove Food Bank and CRC, is assisting about 500 students per month and is in need of non-perishable food.

As a follow-up to our “Deeper in Debt” program, during February, our Sacramento AAUW Branch will be collecting non-perishable items from members and donating them to The Hawk Spot. The most popular items students ask for are cereals, small bags of rice, pastas, flavored oatmeal, Jelly/jams, macaroni and cheese, and tuna. Other items to consider include soups, peanut/almond butter, and pasta sauce.

If you would like to assist The Hawk Spot with a voluntary food donation, there are a couple of ways to do so. If you are going to the Speech Trek Competition on Saturday, Feb. 17 at Cosumnes River College in Winn 150, please consider taking a bag of non-perishable food. Branch members will collect all the food brought to Speech Trek, and members of our Program Committee will arrange to deliver it to CRC during their drop off hours. If you are not attending Speech Trek but still want to help, you can drop off your bag of food at any the homes of the following members of the Program Committee: Deborah Dunn (located in Greenhaven/Pocket area), Nancy Nolen Swanson (located in the Folsom area) or Gloria Yost (located in the Fair Oaks area). Please email Deborah (deborahdunn80@gmail.com), Nancy (nancy.shipman@yahoo.com), or Gloria (gloriayost@aol.com) to make arrangements for dropping off your bag of food.

Thank you for your help in supporting student wellness and reducing the impact of food insecurity on learning. If you have questions or need additional information, please contact Deborah Dunn, Program Co-Director, AAUW Sacramento.