Helping college students feed their hunger to stay in school
West Valley agency estimates that about 3,600 students at the two community colleges struggle to pay for food
All that stands between swimming pool cleaner Julie Zerwekh and a brighter financial future is food.
With enough to eat, the 40-something woman will be able to realize her dream of graduating from West Valley College and landing a whitecollar job as a paralegal. Without it, she’d have to drop out and continue swabbing pools and inhaling harsh chemicals to survive.
But by the time Zerwekh pays the rent in her Scotts Valley mobile home park and for gas to commute to school, there’s not much left over for groceries.
That’s where a special program run by West Valley Community Services to help students at West Valley and De Anza community colleges comes in.
The program offers free food, emergency financial assistance, case management and benefit referrals to students like her who struggle to cover the high cost of living in the Bay Area.
“I could double my income if I can stay in school,’’ Zerwekh said recently as she filled a bag with staples like free eggs, oats, milk, lentils, brown rice and butternut squash. Her goal is to work in Santa Cruz for the public defender’s office, where she’d have better hours and be able to help others.
The West Valley agency estimates that about 3,600 students or 12 percent of the 30,000 students at the two community colleges struggle to pay for food. About 9,700 have a hard time keeping a roof over their heads.
“This is deeply troubling, given that both colleges are located in two of the most affluent ZIP codes in Silicon Valley,’’ said Sujatha Venkatraman, the agency’s associate executive director.
Things are so bad that “some teachers were actually cooking for the students,’’ she said. “Education is one of the most direct pathways out of poverty, especially for minority students. But here in the West Valley, community college students working towards a brighter future are struggling with hunger and housing inse-
curities that are undermining their quest to earn a college degree.”
The agency helped more than 1,000 students with food assistance during the fiscal year ending in July. About $20,000 in Wishbook donations would allow it to continue operating for another year.
Oyantai Rodriguez lives at home in San Jose with her mom, but even without having to contribute to the rent the 20-year-old has to work two jobs to pay for gas and other bills.
An aspiring art gallery director, she takes home only about $200 a week and relies on the food pantry to avoid having to spend money on lunch. Macaroni and cheese is one of her key staples.
The program takes some of the economic pressure off her mother, who works as a technician in the radiology department of a local hospital.
“She doesn’t have to focus on getting me groceries,” Rodriguez said. “It’s an amazing resource.”