Ashton White (22), a nursing student at J. Sargent Reynolds Community College, has been coming to the weekly Tuesday food pantry at First Union Baptist church for about the last two months. As a college student with chronic health issues, he finds the weekly food pantry to fit his schedule and to be extremely helpful for getting the food he needs each week. “With just myself, this is just the perfect amount. This is going to last for a good bit and I appreciate that. Because sometimes I don't know where my next meal's going to come from, so sometimes most of my meals will be peanut butter and crackers and stuff like this is very helpful and very beneficial,” says Mr. White. “[The food pantry] has really been very helpful with being a student in college and also being disabled, not being able to work. It's very helpful for me and very convenient and I appreciate all that they do and all the services that they provide for us. I reached out to Social Services, and they had given me the different options of the different locations that are local and stuff. And with my schedule of schooling, Tuesdays I don't have school, so it's perfect to just come up here and get some items and stuff to be able to last. So for a resource like this, it's very helpful and very beneficial for individuals like myself. I have some acute kidney failure going on and just recently I have some liver issues going on. Since I've been a kid, I've always had stomach issues going on, so I'm just constantly going in pain and stuff like that. So they said that I was eligible for that.” First Union Pantry at First Union Baptist Church in Richmond, VA. September 5, 2023. Photo by Jake Lyell for Feed More.
For Ashton, a trip to the pantry means more than filling a grocery bag. It means knowing he’ll have healthy food for the week ahead.
A nursing student at Reynolds Community College, Ashton gets by with a little help from his local food pantry at First Union Baptist Church. Living with liver issues and acute kidney failure, finding food assistance that fits his diet and schedule is especially important.
With Tuesdays free from class, Ashton visits the pantry at First Union Baptist Church, where he can get the food he needs to manage his chronic health conditions.
“Sometimes I don’t know where my next meal’s going to come from,” he says. “Sometimes most of my meals will be peanut butter and crackers, so stuff like this is very helpful and very beneficial.”
His experience reflects a challenge many college students face: balancing the cost of food with tuition, transportation, housing and other everyday expenses.
That’s why Feed More works with Reynolds Community College and other higher education institutions across our service area to help ensure students have access to food when they need it. For students facing food insecurity, having options for food assistance close to home and on campus can make it easier to access healthy food for wholesome meals.
Reynolds operates student food pantries on each of its three campuses, stocked with nonperishable foods, fresh fruits and vegetables, refrigerated items and personal hygiene products. And in addition to providing food assistance, the team at Reynolds also connects students with SNAP resources and other assistance, helping them access support beyond the pantry.
Together, Feed More and higher education institutions like Reynolds are helping remove one more barrier for students working toward their futures. Because when students know where their next meal is coming from, they have more room to focus on what comes next.
This content is sourced from
Richmond Feed More
. It reflects the author's views and has not been edited by our newsroom. It may have been generated using AI assistance.
Ashton White (22), a nursing student at J. Sargent Reynolds Community College, has been coming to the weekly Tuesday food pantry at First Union Baptist church for about the last two months. As a college student with chronic health issues, he finds the weekly food pantry to fit his schedule and to be extremely helpful for getting the food he needs each week. “With just myself, this is just the perfect amount. This is going to last for a good bit and I appreciate that. Because sometimes I don't know where my next meal's going to come from, so sometimes most of my meals will be peanut butter and crackers and stuff like this is very helpful and very beneficial,” says Mr. White. “[The food pantry] has really been very helpful with being a student in college and also being disabled, not being able to work. It's very helpful for me and very convenient and I appreciate all that they do and all the services that they provide for us. I reached out to Social Services, and they had given me the different options of the different locations that are local and stuff. And with my schedule of schooling, Tuesdays I don't have school, so it's perfect to just come up here and get some items and stuff to be able to last. So for a resource like this, it's very helpful and very beneficial for individuals like myself. I have some acute kidney failure going on and just recently I have some liver issues going on. Since I've been a kid, I've always had stomach issues going on, so I'm just constantly going in pain and stuff like that. So they said that I was eligible for that.” First Union Pantry at First Union Baptist Church in Richmond, VA. September 5, 2023. Photo by Jake Lyell for Feed More.
