Kelly Heckert, of Butler, a Butler County Community College adult literacy student, selects food items inside BC3’s Pioneer Pantry earlier this month. BC3 also offers free food at grab-and-go stations at its six locations in five western Pennsylvania counties and has been designated as a Hunger-Free Campus by the state Department of Education. Submitted Photo

Kelly Heckert wheels the frozen chicken wings, fresh sweet potato, boxed pasta, bottled juice and other foods in a red wagon in Butler County Community College’s Pioneer Pantry. That food will provide supplemental nutrition for the adult literacy student and her 5-year-old granddaughter.

“Not only are they educating us,” the 51-year-old Butler resident said about students attending the community college, “But they are making sure we are getting the right nutrients.”

Patronage in three years has increased 89% in the Pioneer Pantry, created by BC3 following a student survey. The state Department of Education has recognized this measure the college has taken to address food insecurity when the state named BC3 as a Hunger-Free Campus.

The inaugural Hunger-Free Campus designation recognized 28 institutions of higher education in Pennsylvania that have taken measures to address student hunger and qualifies those institutions to seek related grants, according to Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration.

Pennsylvania community colleges collectively serve more low-income students than any other sector of higher education, according to the Pennsylvania Commission for Community Colleges in a report released in March.

The 2022-2023 state budget allocated $1 million to begin a grant program to support the Hunger-Free Campus initiative to combat food insecurity at post-secondary institutions.

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