Students help students at Asnuntuck's food pantry

Susan Danseyar, Journal Inquirer, Manchester, Conn.
·3 min read

May 5—ENFIELD — The Asnuntuck Community College food pantry gives students the opportunity to help students, which has become increasingly necessary in the past few years, its organizers say.

HELP THE HELPERS

WHO: Asnuntuck Community College's food pantry

HOW: Join the college team in the annual Connecticut Foodshare Walk Against Hunger on May 21 at Dunkin' Donut Park in Hartford. Visit

bit.ly/3xnnhDu

Since March 2017, the food and wellness pantry has been providing students, faculty, and staff a convenient place on campus to get canned and boxed goods, fresh fruits and vegetables, dairy and soy products, frozen meat and seafood, diapers, baby food, hygiene products for men and women, cleaning products, and pet supplies.

It's open Monday through Thursday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and by appointment on Friday and Saturday evenings.

To keep providing relief, the pantry workers are asking for help from the community to raise funds and make an impact on hunger by joining the Asnuntuck Community College team for the annual Connecticut Foodshare Walk Against Hunger.

The fundraiser takes place Saturday, May 21, starting at 10 a.m. at Dunkin' Donuts Park, 1214 Main St., Hartford. Participants also can walk on their own, whenever and wherever they choose, and still sign up as a team member.

The food pantry will receive 60% of what the team raises and donate the remainder to Foodshare.

The college has raised $1,973 of its $3,000 goal.

Ryan Russin, an Asnuntuck graduate who serves as an AmeriCorps VISTA worker and runs the day-to-day operation of the pantry, has seen the school community's needs grow dramatically since the COVID-19 pandemic hit two years ago. He's been involved with the pantry since its inception.

Russin said the pantry has distributed 35,357 pounds of food and has seen 9,840 visits since spring 2020.

Director of Student Activities Sherry Paquette, who oversees the pantry, said 2,403 pounds of food were delivered to students in March. The food pantry saw 706 visits during the month, and two kiosk stations on campus serve another 150 to 175 students.

Sally Dejesus and Claudia Cupe said they know how difficult it is for a number of students to keep up with their bills, family responsibilities, and attend to their studies. It's gratifying, they both said, to provide others help in any way they can.

"All of these women, and Ryan, have an extreme passion to help students," Paquette said. "We get emails from students every week who say if it were not for the food pantry, they wouldn't be able to remain in school."

"The need is growing month after month," she said. "We are on track this year to exceed the 2021 figures."

In the fall 2021 semester, Paquette said, the food pantry served 298 clients.

"During the fall 2021 semester, the food pantry distributed 11,914 pounds of food to our members," she said.

The student workers say it is gratifying to help their peers. Tracy Ouelette, who developed a plan for the food pantry as a service project for the Woman's Leadership seminar she took with Paquette, said students at the college need help feeding their families.

When she was working with Paquette on a proposal for the food pantry to open and operate, Ouelette said it was important to her that there not be a stigma attached to using the pantry's services.

"We wanted this to be a normal service, and not something that felt like a big deal to people using it," she said.

For more coverage of Somers and Enfield, follow Susan Danseyar on Twitter: @susandanseyar, Facebook: Susan Danseyar, reporter.