TC food bank expands to assist enrolled parents

Students in need can get food and child care necessities

Texarkana College has expanded its food bank to become the TC Care Closet Initiative, allowing the college to meet student needs in new ways.

The Care Closet offers students in need toiletry and essential items and child care necessities—diapers, formula and baby food.

Katie Jewell, coordinator of testing and student support services advising, and Phillip Parrish, success coach coordinator, opened the TC Food Bank in June 2016.

“It’s hard for students to learn in class when they are worried about where their next meal will come from or if they will have diapers for their baby. If we can better meet students’ needs, then they are better able to concentrate on the task at hand,” Jewell said.

Honors College students volunteer their time to keep the food bank and closet running. They monitor donation boxes around campus and help organize donations weekly. The food bank not only provides canned goods for cooking, but also offers quick lunch options for students, such as individually packaged tuna, ramen noodles and Chef Boyardee quick meals.

“We realize that our students are on the go most of the time,” Parrish said. “Most of them are working and going to school, so we try to offer them food they can eat during their busy schedules.”

In August 2016, faculty and staff began donating baby care and food items. This has grown over the last year and a half to include personal hygiene items, Irwin said.

“For single moms or dads attending college, knowing they have access to a supply of diapers or wipes or food could mean eliminating a barrier that keeps them from attending class,” Parrish said. “… It can make a world of difference to have someone around you who understands and is willing to help.”

The Food Bank aims “to alleviate the physical hunger of those in need while providing education to empower students to become effective, contributing adults and to achieve lifelong success.”

The college will be able to help students even more through the Care Closet Initiative.

Donations can be made at any of the boxes on campus or in the lobby of the college’s Career Education Center, at College Drive and Coolidge Avenue. Students may visit the Food Bank or Care Closet twice a month.

For more information or to make an appointment to visit the Food Bank or Care Closet, email Phillip Parrish at phillip.parrish@texarkanacollege. or call 903-823-3418.