Student Launches Dorm Food Pantry
There's soup, sweets and much more
When he isn't in class at Alabama A&M, Justin Franks works three part-time jobs. One of them is as a desk assistant in his dorm, where he noticed that "a group of students had always been going to bed hungry. They didn't have any food," he tells ABC.
The school's cafeteria closes at 6 p.m., and students who weren't able to purchase food at a local restaurant or store were left without an evening meal. Franks, using $40 of his own funds, bought instant noodles and Capri Sun drinks to start a small stash of food for students in need.
"After I posted about it on Facebook, it just exploded from there. We started getting donations from so many people: sororities, alumni and others in the community," he says. The food pantry now takes up an old mail room in the dormitory and includes cereal, granola bars, Pop-Tarts and sweets, as well as personal hygiene products.
Approximately 300 food pantries have sprouted at universities and colleges around the country to help a growing number of students in need.