Two Students Rally in Harrisburg for Funding to Fight Food Insecurity

For Jessika Buenaventura ’22 and Andrew Beers ’22, fighting food insecurity on college campuses is personal. 

“I am a commuter,” says Beers, a communication major. “I struggle myself with getting food, and I actually rely on the pantry here on campus.” 

Beers and Buenaventura lead the Oxfam America club, a social justice organization that focuses on service and advocacy. They recently traveled to the state Capitol along with Jaime Gerhart, director of the Center for Service and Social Justice, and Father Dan Lannen, University chaplain, to meet with lawmakers and advocate for change. 

“No one should ever have to choose between food and education. That was our main message,” says Buenaventura, an early childhood elementary education major. 

Swipe Out Hunger, a national nonprofit that partners with college campuses to end student hunger, and First Lady Frances Wolf organized the rally to lobby for $1 million in funding to fight food insecurity at public institutions of higher education. While the proposed state funding would be reserved for public schools, both Beers and Buenaventura believe it will pave the way for private schools as well. 

“Even though it won’t affect us, we still wanted to advocate for students because we know what it’s like,” says Buenaventura, who has struggled getting food due to dietary issues. 

According to The Hope Center for College, Community, and Justice, food insecurity is the limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate and safe food, or the ability to acquire such food in a socially acceptable manner. 

Beers, who wrote an op-ed in The Express-Times about food insecurity, encourages the campus community to donate to DeSales’ food pantry, which is located in the Dorothy Day Student Union, and to advocate for the Hunger-Free Campus Act. 

“Even though I’m graduating, my brother is starting college [at another university] this year,” he says. “I worry that he’s going to have issues. College isn’t cheap. I think every student should have a right to basic needs.”