HOLYOKE – Holyoke Community College (HCC) President Christina Royal, elected officials and students joined together for a ribbon-cutting ceremony marking the occasion of the opening of Homestead Market at HCC on Nov. 4. The college is working to address and tackle food insecurity, and is the first among 15 community colleges throughout Massachusetts to open a market that accepts EBT SNAP benefits.

The convenience store-like market is tucked away in the campus’ Frost Building and is right down the hall from the Thrive Center. It provides students with a variety of fresh produce, pantry essentials like peanut butter and jelly and quick meals – the storefront even offers paper towels and toilet paper. Students can stop in and grab a bite on the go or shop for a few more items they might need on their way home.

A benefit to the market being on campus is that some students don’t have access to transportation to a grocery store, so the market serves as a bridge between home and school for everyday items. Along with accepting SNAP, cash and credit cards, they will also be accepting gift card vouchers provided through a $15,000 grant from EOS Foundation. Students can learn more about the vouchers through the schools Thrive office.

The idea behind the market originally came from the student senate that wanted to address food security in 2018. Royal told the audience that in early 2019, Food Service Director for Aramark Mark Kronos started putting plans in motion. However, due to the global pandemic the world shifted and COVID-19 amplified the issue, and the need to take action.

During the ribbon-cutting event, Royal asked the audience to think about hunger. She said, “I’d like you to think a moment and really think about how it feels to be hungry. I mean, really hungry. Not just like you’re running late for lunch, but what it means to miss a meal – to miss a day of eating.”

She then asked the group if they could write term papers, ace a test, or engage in conversation with advisors about their futures. She questioned if someone would be able to worry about when to get to class or being successful in class if they were more concerned about their next meal.

Royal then explained that occasionally when talking about food insecurity, people will suggest to her that students who are struggling with it “just need to build some resiliency and just dig deep in terms of pushing through.” However the contrasting question is what if the student does not have anything left to tap into because they’re depleted from lack of nourishment.

“From our 2020 basic needs survey, we learned that 46 percent of our students experienced low or very low levels of food insecurity, and half of the people that responded said that they can't afford to eat balanced meals,” Royal shared. “And this was pre-pandemic. And we know that the pandemic has exacerbated a lot of these basic needs issues.”

She continued, “If we’re going to be about academic excellence, we have to then focus on the foundational levels that help support students, so they're in a position to be able to succeed academically."

Laura Sylvester from the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts was also in attendance and, in her speech, said, “The Market is not only the first market at this time in the commonwealth to accept EBT SNAP benefits – it’s a model for every other campus. Thirty-seven percent of college students in Massachusetts experienced food insecurity, Black, Latinx, LGBTQ, and student parents experience food insecurity at even higher rates. This is unacceptable.”

Homestead Market’s mission will help students like Christopher Coburn and Luis Pinto have easier and affordable access to food. Coburn is a recipient of HCC’s Thrive program’s resources and was able to apply to state programs like food stamps and tax information with their help. He shared his gratitude stating, “Having the store now on my campus, especially with being a diabetic, having access to food, is very important for me to stay healthy and focus on classes.”

Pinto has been a student at the college for three years and volunteers there as well and shared his experience, “It is very helpful to have a store where I can actually go and buy groceries, as transportation is really hard finding a way to go to a supermarket, and, you know, come back and focus on my studies – and we all know that math equations don’t make sense when we’re hungry,” he said. “I’m super grateful. And a lot of students who have even worse problems and some of them are homeless, some of them do not get the necessary food. They are all grateful …”

Homestead Market is open Monday through Thursday 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. The Thrive Center can be reached at thrive@hcc.edu or 552-2783.