ODESSA, Texas — Juggling college on top of a part time job is already hard enough,
but especially so for Odessa students who also deal with a heightened cost of living.
Luckily, Odessa college is giving a helping hand with a new food pantry.
The Wrangler Food Pantry is open to students who attend Odessa College, Odessa Career & Technical Early College High School and Odessa Collegiate Academy.
"We've seen a lot of our student residence come in and we're just really working on getting the word out to her other students so that they can come in. But word is starting to spread through social media and other things and students are starting to ask about it. We feel like it's really going to pick up especially around the holidays," said Kristi Clemmer, Executive Director of Student Completion.
Although Clemmer says they're working on spreading the word, over 50 students have taken advantage of it in less than ten days.
Data compiled by Trellis Company in its Student Financial Wellness Survey opened OC officials’ eyes to the prevalence of the problem.
"We had a survey from Trellis Company in their Student Financial Wellness Survey, and it showed that many of our students are food insecure and that made us starting about other things that they might be insecure about," said Clemmer.
"We also have hygiene items. We know for a lot of students, it's hard to make a decision on what to purchase when they're low on funds."
The pantry is open twice a week on Wednesdays from 3 p.m.- 6 p.m and Friday's from 11 a.m.- 1 p.m. Students are allowed to come twice a month, but the amount they can snag for free depends on the size of their family.
"We're able to be flexible with them by following some guidelines. So the students would come in and not know what they could get, and they feel like they were taking too much, when in fact they weren't taking enough," said Clemmer.
It's a pantry Clemmer is passionate about after seeing the relief it brings to students.
"It's been really amazing to see the OC community come together and support this and just people's outpouring support. The students come in and it's just really nice to see the smile on their face and not have to struggle or worry about getting to class since they have the food that they need," said Clemmer.