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Milwaukee — Rising food costs in the United States are driving more college students into food pantries.
A new food pantry on the Walker Square campus of Milwaukee Area Technical College helps keep costs down for students.
Marta Prado is an Early Childhood Education student at MATC. As a mother of four, she said it was hard to keep up with rising food prices.
“Porque no tengo trabajo seguro, necesito este ayuda,” Prado said. (I don’t work, so I need this extra help.)
(Spectrum News 1/Catalina Velázquez)
Prado is currently unemployed as he devotes himself full time to his education.
She said she was grateful for this extra help and loves getting creative with the variety of items MATC offers.
Hailey Weber is the Student Resource Center Coordinator for Food Pantry.
“MATC is a direct reflection of the Milwaukee community,” said Weber. “We can feed students on campus and remove one obstacle for him.”
She said MATC serves about 1,500 visitors each month. They eat about 1,400 pounds of food each week.
(Spectrum News 1/Catalina Velázquez)
She said she expects that number to increase in the coming months.
“We know food insecurity can be a barrier to success,” Weber said. “We want students on all campuses to have access to healthy foods.”
Maria Dominguez will work at the MATC Pantry starting next semester. She said this would be helpful for students who don’t have the time or transportation to go to the pantries of other campuses in town.
“Students are often discouraged when we tell them they have to go downtown for the pantry,” says Dominguez. “Just being here really helps.”
Feeding America donates food, sorted and presented in a marketplace-style shopping experience. Students are encouraged to stop by weekly to fill up their shopping bags.
Food pantries are located at all four MATC campuses in downtown Milwaukee, Mequon, Oak Creek and West Allis.
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