Owens Community College receives Food Recovery Network grant

Owens Community College's Center for Campus and Community Connections has received a $2,500 grant from the Food Recovery Network to help stock more food at the campus food pantry amid increasing need. The college states that demand for food from the campus food pantry has doubled from the Fall 2025 semester to the Spring 2026 semester. The funding will purchase a new cooler which will be called the Community Fridge.

The funding comes from the Food Recovery Network, with the grant incentivizing Owens Community College to continue work it is already doing: salvaging food and tracking the weight of food that has been salvaged to become available to students in the food pantry, including by repurposing leftovers from campus events and by utilizing the community garden on campus.

According to an article on Owens Community College’s website, Krista Kiessling, the director of the Center for Campus and Community Connections, was quoted as saying of the grant, “It doesn’t really affect what we do. Basically, it incentivizes us for what we’ve already been doing. The only additional work on our end is weighing and tracking the food that we bring in. Wasted food makes me absolutely nuts, especially because I see hungry people all of the time. In this community, there’s no shortage of food. There’s a shortage of infrastructure to move it and get it to the people who need it when they need it.”

She added that the grant funding will purchase a Community Fridge, which will be stocked with food students and campus community members can access. “We need to have more ready-to-go food. If someone has an event and there are big trays of Mexican food, I can bring it in here with paper plates and a microwave and feed a bunch of people,” Kiessling said.

Per the grant funding guidelines from the Food Recovery Network, Owens Community College must salvage 1,500 pounds of food in a year. Since the end of July, when it began tracking for the FRN, the college has already salvaged 200 pounds. If the school saves 4,000 pounds, it will receive an additional $1,500 in funding. If it saves 10,000 pounds, FRN will provide additional funding at its discretion.

Owens Community College has experienced increased demand for its food pantry in recent months. From Fall 2025 to Spring 2026, the number of people served by the pantry increased from 1,409 to 2,870. In the 2025-2026 academic year, 12,656 items were taken from mobile pantry carts that are available around many campus locations.

Letitia Hatch, a psychology student who serves as a Connection Mentor, said, “Food is expensive, and it’s only getting more expensive. If we can give students access to more food that’s healthy, so they’re not getting food out of a vending machine, it’s better for them. We have a lot of students who don’t have access to on-demand food on campus right now. When events come back and they bring all of this reclaimed food, the students love it. It also encourages students to go to events because they’re seeing all of this food. It encourages them to get more involved.”

For more information about Owens Community College, visit the school’s website.