{"id":179052,"date":"2021-11-10T07:31:41","date_gmt":"2021-11-10T12:31:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=179052"},"modified":"2023-06-27T12:59:40","modified_gmt":"2023-06-27T16:59:40","slug":"students-help-students-in-fight-against-food-insecurity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2021\/11\/students-help-students-in-fight-against-food-insecurity\/","title":{"rendered":"Students Help Students In Fight Against Food Insecurity"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A group of UConn student organizations are helping the fight against food insecurity among their peers with the formation of <a href=\"https:\/\/sites.google.com\/uconn.edu\/uconnpraxishh\/hh-initiatives\/current-initiatives\/husky-market\">\u201cHusky Market.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Husky Market provides grocery store gift cards to UConn students who are experiencing food insecurity. The project is led by the Undergraduate Student Government (USG) and <a href=\"https:\/\/praxisorg.uconn.edu\/\">UConn Praxis<\/a>, a student-led group that advances public interest issues and give students the skills and opportunities to practice effective citizenship.<\/p>\n<p>There are a number of other student organizations involved, including <a href=\"https:\/\/cap.uconn.edu\/hsi-2\/creating-caring-communities\/\">Creating Caring Communities<\/a>, the UConn chapter of the NAACP, Minority Health Matters, and <a href=\"https:\/\/uconntact.uconn.edu\/\">UConntact<\/a>. The student governments of UConn\u2019s regional campuses also are active in Husky Market.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEvery student at UConn should have a chance, and worrying about food should not be something that a student is stressed out about,\u201d says Ethan Werstler &#8217;22 (CLAS), the vice president of USG and a co-founder of Husky Market. The senior political science and communications major from Woodstock also served as a student-elected member of UConn\u2019s Board of Trustees.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/J4PZHyqmkJs\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>\u201cStudents have classes, they have to navigate UConn socially, and they have to worry about getting a job after graduation. Working on the fight against food insecurity exemplifies the role of student advocacy and what we should be doing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Food insecurity is an increasing issue at universities around the country. Werstler points to a survey that found 35% of students at UConn Storrs suffer from food insecurity, with higher numbers at regionals campuses.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFood insecurity is the lack of consistent and reliable access to the financial resources needed to lead a healthy, nutritious lifestyle,\u201d says Werstler. \u201cIt can affect anybody, whether you live in dorm or off-campus.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Husky Market was launched in 2019 as USG purchased groceries and distributed them to students in need. The turnout was immense, and Werstler realized that the program needed to grow.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe had a food insecurity task force within USG and we were a small working group trying to advocate for initiatives on campus,\u201d says Werstler. \u201cWe eventually realized that we should address the problem ourselves. We looked at the funds USG and other student organizations had and found power within us to work directly on the problem.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Like the rest of the world, it faced a challenge when the COVID-19 pandemic emerged in the spring 2020 semester.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou would think that running a food program during COVID would be a nightmare, but it was actually a blessing because we were able to take a step back and rethink our entire model,\u201d says Werstler. \u201cWe came up with a gift card system that is completely contactless and encompasses all aspects of dietary restrictions.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In the fall 2020 semester, 140 UConn students received a $300 gift card for groceries, and that number has now grown to over 600 students per semester. In addition to the card, students receive information on how to make healthy choices in their purchases.<\/p>\n<p>The program has now closed for the fall 2021 semester with over 1,100 applications.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHusky Market is 100 percent funded and organized by students,\u201d says Werstler. \u201cThe funds come entirely form our organizational budgets.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Husky Market works with the University\u2019s Office of Financial Affairs to ensure that a student\u2019s aid package would not be altered because of the receiving of a grocery gift card.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/zFxweSVw4Ns\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>\u201cOne of the best things about Husky Market is that it is confidential,\u201d says Srimayi Chaturvedula &#8217;23, who is the coordinator of the hunger and homelessness campaign of UConn Praxis. \u201cYou fill out a survey on your phone on your own time and pace and don\u2019t have to tell anyone you did it. You don\u2019t have to walk into some administrative office and tell somebody you need help to get groceries. There is definitely a stigma associated with food insecurity and we don\u2019t want that. We want to let people know we are here to help you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Chaturvedula is a political science and business management major who has seen extreme poverty in India when she visits her relatives there.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou see all dynamics of poverty on an unbelievable mind-altering level in India,\u201d says Chaturvedula. \u201cBut, then you come to America and you still see people who need things. These issues are particularly important to me on campus because I feel so connected to UConn. There are people we see and talk to everyday that are struggling with food insecurity, which is heartbreaking to me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cStudents aren\u2019t learning if they\u2019re not eating,\u201d says Werstler. \u201cIt is the fundamental right of a student to be able to wake up in the morning and not have to wonder if they will have three meals in a day. They shouldn\u2019t have to worry about another student bringing them to a dining hall or not eat because they need to pay for textbooks or other life expenses.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>UConn student organizations are helping the fight against food insecurity among their peers with the formation of Husky Market<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":123,"featured_media":179082,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2235,2227,2234,2233],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[2113],"class_list":["post-179052","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-today-homepage","category-uconn-edu-homepage","category-university-life","category-university-news"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-19 23:24:45","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179052","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/123"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=179052"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179052\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":179194,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179052\/revisions\/179194"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/179082"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=179052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=179052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=179052"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=179052"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=179052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}