[Music]
[Applause]
my team and I share food with people for
a living
we get to do it at this wonderful
University it is an honor and a
privilege
to help students meet their basic needs
through the work that we’re doing
powerful and innovative work that did
often wonder how I got the privilege of
working in this type of amazing work to
create something that we’ve never had
before I often think of my first college
professor over ten years ago she said
you will most likely be doing word that
has not even been created yet ten years
later the first positions for a food
pantry coordinator on a college campus
were being created
I think her for helping me think of how
new solutions were gonna be found for
the problems of our society but in a way
my entire left journey had been
preparing me to do this work I grew up
in Peru I am a descendant of the
indigenous people of South America
people who loved and cultivated the
earth indigenous people who master
agricultural practices in some of the
most challenging of ecosystems my
ancestors managed to feed entire
civilizations through collaborative work
practices this region where the potato
originated from gives me inspiration
while studying Andean history I became
inspired and empowered to be an advocate
for food justice food equity and to make
sure that more people would have access
to the food that they need and that they
deserve I know in leave my family was
also preparing
to do this work my mother my loving
mother taught me about the power of food
and what a big act of love it is to
share a meal with someone to cook a meal
from scratch and nourish them see much
has changed since but when I was a baby
I didn’t like to eat my mother spent
countless hours in the kitchen making
one two three up to four dishes per meal
per day because she knew that I would
take one bite out of this one one bite
out of that one and then he’ll be like
listening to these stories obviously was
always good laughter right
but I think in reflecting about that
story I understood that there was a huge
often also think about the many Sunday
afternoons in Peru and my grandmother’s
house she would show up early and all of
us had a role to play in making the
Sunday meal some of the young ones we
would help with some of the easier tasks
like peeling potatoes and washing
vegetables shredding chicken while
grandma and the women and her family
prepare elaborate meals they would saute
onions prepare the awesome sauces and
they would feed at all this approach to
collaboratively working towards one goal
is the approach that I have brought and
encourage my students to take on when it
through the basic needs hub which also
houses our campus food pantry we have
the honor of helping students meet their
goals we help nourish them so that they
won’t have one less thing to worry about
so they can work towards their college
degree
I have taken a lot of students staff
community members system-wide and campus
leaders working together to create this
type of new resource to create this
access to food for those students who
don’t have enough to meet their dietary
needs three years ago we embarked on
this journey at UCI back then only fifty
college pantries existed in the nation
as of today there’s over 600 college
pantries across the u.s. and many more
in the making today I have the honor and
responsibility to help other
institutions who are reaching out for
help and saying we want to do that same
thing we want to make sure we’re
providing access to food and resources
to our students so that they can just
focus on getting the education I am
happy that his work has taken its toll
and it’s growing and he won’t stop but
we started with a very small food pantry
and well it was not everything we wanted
it was the seed that was planted on her
campus something that helped us believe
that we could do more in working that
pantry I saw the power and the happy
faces of those students who perhaps have
missed a couple meals that week and they
couldn’t believe that the university had
food for them free food that’s not
something that’s very much available in
our society we knew that we needed to do
more and that the CETA had been planting
planted through the small food pantry
had the power to grow we started
envisioning what else how else could we
serve our students because we knew that
offering just a few groceries was not
going to solve the issue it is more of a
band-aid but an important band-aid with
imagining a better space first of all a
pantry that would allow us to distribute
free food but fresh food nutritious food
that would nourish their souls and their
bodies we imagine a space where we could
connect students to other critical
resources such as the CalFresh program
our stead or States Supplemental
Nutrition Program we imagine offering
free swipes into the Dining Commons
emergency meals and emergency grants and
most importantly we imagine a space
where we could build community and
empower each other through food in doing
this work we challenge ourselves to
think about the whys why is it that so
many in our society don’t have the
adequate access to food 12 percent of US
households experience food insecurity
the USDA defines food insecurity as
uncertain or limited ability to obtain
adequate food due to lack of financial
resources while 12 percent of US
households experience that and that is
way too many when we look at this
challenge in a college setting the data
at the University of the California
system shows us that over 40 percent of
our undergraduate students and 25% of
our graduate students have experienced
food insecurity in the past year the
numbers are unfortunately very much
similar at comparable institutions in in
the US and in California there’s way too
many students struggling to meet their
needs and so knowing all of this we set
out to build or fresh basic needs hub a
space that is now nationally recognized
as a model for tackling food insecurity
but for us is not about the recognition
it’s about the power of empowering
it’s a product of students work it was
her students who first identified that
their peers were struggling they were
the first ones to bring up this issue to
our leadership they knew this was
happening and that a solution needed to
be found it was them who believed so
much in this that they decided to impose
a fee on themselves they voted to fund
this work to expand it because they knew
the resources were not just available to
create new things it was through
community forums it was through
community dinners conversations that we
started imagining what this work could
do what the space should and could look
like what other resources should become
available to students it was a student
sitting in that circle that said you
know it’s great to receive food but if
I’m not gonna get home until 10 p.m.
tonight
that means I’m gonna carry my groceries
all day and still be hungry can we
create a space where I can also make a
meal when I’m not gonna have a chance to
go home and while that seemed like a
wild idea we got to create a community
kitchen that in this new space our
students were key in the design of the
space we knew that food assistance is
not easy to ask for and there was fear
that too many of our students wouldn’t
access the resources because they would
be ashamed and so our students were very
thoughtful about thinking how can we
make this space as welcoming and
inviting as possible how can we make our
pantry as less restrictive as possible
so that students don’t have to be
further stigmatized while asking for
help they ambition the colors the
vibrant colors and the walls and the art
and what the space should feel like when
somebody walks in I am proud to say that
so many students come up to me and say
I’ve been thinking about coming
in four months and I couldn’t build up
the courage but I want what I walked in
through those doors I did not experience
that shame that I expected I was going
to experience in Seoul a September we
open our fresh basic needs have fresh
stands for food resources empowering
students with hope it is a quick name
easy to remember it’s also a name that
helps us fight through that stigma by
not calling it a pantry it is not just a
pantry fresh it’s an acronym that speaks
to the power of hope that hope that we
are giving to students to know that once
they graduate from here once they get
that education they’ve been working hard
to get they will never ever have to rely
on emergency food assistance to meet
their needs see for many of us myself
included as a proud and either first
generation college graduate attaining
our education is not just about our own
stability and success it is about
lifting or families out of poverty it is
about changing our society in finding
solutions to the problems that should no
fresh is the fruit of the labor of
multiple generations of students and
staff and leaders working together to
attribute much of our success to the way
we imagined this work we’ve imagined
this work as an act of love and not as
an act of charity we imagined this work
as something that should be replicated
across our state to make sure that no
matter where a student goes to they have
the support that they need many folks
may have a hard time believing
that so many of our students nowadays
are struggling to meet their basic needs
though we should not forget that hunger
and malnourishment are complex global
issues and our college students are not
but our students are also more
vulnerable for a couple of reasons
college prices are an all-time high but
it’s not just tuition and fees as we
often think it is it’s actually the
living cost its affording the entirety
of your education
well that’s happening many family
incomes are stagnant or declining while
our public universities are continuously
underfunded at the same time
college-going is more common than ever
for historically underrepresented in
underserved communities college is no
longer just an option college is a must
and students are now going to great
lengths to be able to get themselves out
of the situations not just themselves
but their families and so I continue to
be inspired by the students who believe
that a different world is possible that
we will one day no longer have food
insecurity on our campuses and our
society while we get there we will be
providing this direct service to our
students we will be doing that with a
smile and with love and support and so
may we continue may we continue to draw
inspiration from our ancestors may we
continue to love the way your families
have taught us to do may we continue to
show support and love to those who need
you [Applause]
[Applause]
my team and I share food with people for
a living
we get to do it at this wonderful
University it is an honor and a
privilege
to help students meet their basic needs
through the work that we’re doing
powerful and innovative work that did
often wonder how I got the privilege of
working in this type of amazing work to
create something that we’ve never had
before I often think of my first college
professor over ten years ago she said
you will most likely be doing word that
has not even been created yet ten years
later the first positions for a food
pantry coordinator on a college campus
were being created
I think her for helping me think of how
new solutions were gonna be found for
the problems of our society but in a way
my entire left journey had been
preparing me to do this work I grew up
in Peru I am a descendant of the
indigenous people of South America
people who loved and cultivated the
earth indigenous people who master
agricultural practices in some of the
most challenging of ecosystems my
ancestors managed to feed entire
civilizations through collaborative work
practices this region where the potato
originated from gives me inspiration
while studying Andean history I became
inspired and empowered to be an advocate
for food justice food equity and to make
sure that more people would have access
to the food that they need and that they
deserve I know in leave my family was
also preparing
to do this work my mother my loving
mother taught me about the power of food
and what a big act of love it is to
share a meal with someone to cook a meal
from scratch and nourish them see much
has changed since but when I was a baby
I didn’t like to eat my mother spent
countless hours in the kitchen making
one two three up to four dishes per meal
per day because she knew that I would
take one bite out of this one one bite
out of that one and then he’ll be like
listening to these stories obviously was
always good laughter right
but I think in reflecting about that
story I understood that there was a huge
often also think about the many Sunday
afternoons in Peru and my grandmother’s
house she would show up early and all of
us had a role to play in making the
Sunday meal some of the young ones we
would help with some of the easier tasks
like peeling potatoes and washing
vegetables shredding chicken while
grandma and the women and her family
prepare elaborate meals they would saute
onions prepare the awesome sauces and
they would feed at all this approach to
collaboratively working towards one goal
is the approach that I have brought and
encourage my students to take on when it
through the basic needs hub which also
houses our campus food pantry we have
the honor of helping students meet their
goals we help nourish them so that they
won’t have one less thing to worry about
so they can work towards their college
degree
I have taken a lot of students staff
community members system-wide and campus
leaders working together to create this
type of new resource to create this
access to food for those students who
don’t have enough to meet their dietary
needs three years ago we embarked on
this journey at UCI back then only fifty
college pantries existed in the nation
as of today there’s over 600 college
pantries across the u.s. and many more
in the making today I have the honor and
responsibility to help other
institutions who are reaching out for
help and saying we want to do that same
thing we want to make sure we’re
providing access to food and resources
to our students so that they can just
focus on getting the education I am
happy that his work has taken its toll
and it’s growing and he won’t stop but
we started with a very small food pantry
and well it was not everything we wanted
it was the seed that was planted on her
campus something that helped us believe
that we could do more in working that
pantry I saw the power and the happy
faces of those students who perhaps have
missed a couple meals that week and they
couldn’t believe that the university had
food for them free food that’s not
something that’s very much available in
our society we knew that we needed to do
more and that the CETA had been planting
planted through the small food pantry
had the power to grow we started
envisioning what else how else could we
serve our students because we knew that
offering just a few groceries was not
going to solve the issue it is more of a
band-aid but an important band-aid with
imagining a better space first of all a
pantry that would allow us to distribute
free food but fresh food nutritious food
that would nourish their souls and their
bodies we imagine a space where we could
connect students to other critical
resources such as the CalFresh program
our stead or States Supplemental
Nutrition Program we imagine offering
free swipes into the Dining Commons
emergency meals and emergency grants and
most importantly we imagine a space
where we could build community and
empower each other through food in doing
this work we challenge ourselves to
think about the whys why is it that so
many in our society don’t have the
adequate access to food 12 percent of US
households experience food insecurity
the USDA defines food insecurity as
uncertain or limited ability to obtain
adequate food due to lack of financial
resources while 12 percent of US
households experience that and that is
way too many when we look at this
challenge in a college setting the data
at the University of the California
system shows us that over 40 percent of
our undergraduate students and 25% of
our graduate students have experienced
food insecurity in the past year the
numbers are unfortunately very much
similar at comparable institutions in in
the US and in California there’s way too
many students struggling to meet their
needs and so knowing all of this we set
out to build or fresh basic needs hub a
space that is now nationally recognized
as a model for tackling food insecurity
but for us is not about the recognition
it’s about the power of empowering
it’s a product of students work it was
her students who first identified that
their peers were struggling they were
the first ones to bring up this issue to
our leadership they knew this was
happening and that a solution needed to
be found it was them who believed so
much in this that they decided to impose
a fee on themselves they voted to fund
this work to expand it because they knew
the resources were not just available to
create new things it was through
community forums it was through
community dinners conversations that we
started imagining what this work could
do what the space should and could look
like what other resources should become
available to students it was a student
sitting in that circle that said you
know it’s great to receive food but if
I’m not gonna get home until 10 p.m.
tonight
that means I’m gonna carry my groceries
all day and still be hungry can we
create a space where I can also make a
meal when I’m not gonna have a chance to
go home and while that seemed like a
wild idea we got to create a community
kitchen that in this new space our
students were key in the design of the
space we knew that food assistance is
not easy to ask for and there was fear
that too many of our students wouldn’t
access the resources because they would
be ashamed and so our students were very
thoughtful about thinking how can we
make this space as welcoming and
inviting as possible how can we make our
pantry as less restrictive as possible
so that students don’t have to be
further stigmatized while asking for
help they ambition the colors the
vibrant colors and the walls and the art
and what the space should feel like when
somebody walks in I am proud to say that
so many students come up to me and say
I’ve been thinking about coming
in four months and I couldn’t build up
the courage but I want what I walked in
through those doors I did not experience
that shame that I expected I was going
to experience in Seoul a September we
open our fresh basic needs have fresh
stands for food resources empowering
students with hope it is a quick name
easy to remember it’s also a name that
helps us fight through that stigma by
not calling it a pantry it is not just a
pantry fresh it’s an acronym that speaks
to the power of hope that hope that we
are giving to students to know that once
they graduate from here once they get
that education they’ve been working hard
to get they will never ever have to rely
on emergency food assistance to meet
their needs see for many of us myself
included as a proud and either first
generation college graduate attaining
our education is not just about our own
stability and success it is about
lifting or families out of poverty it is
about changing our society in finding
solutions to the problems that should no
fresh is the fruit of the labor of
multiple generations of students and
staff and leaders working together to
attribute much of our success to the way
we imagined this work we’ve imagined
this work as an act of love and not as
an act of charity we imagined this work
as something that should be replicated
across our state to make sure that no
matter where a student goes to they have
the support that they need many folks
may have a hard time believing
that so many of our students nowadays
are struggling to meet their basic needs
though we should not forget that hunger
and malnourishment are complex global
issues and our college students are not
but our students are also more
vulnerable for a couple of reasons
college prices are an all-time high but
it’s not just tuition and fees as we
often think it is it’s actually the
living cost its affording the entirety
of your education
well that’s happening many family
incomes are stagnant or declining while
our public universities are continuously
underfunded at the same time
college-going is more common than ever
for historically underrepresented in
underserved communities college is no
longer just an option college is a must
and students are now going to great
lengths to be able to get themselves out
of the situations not just themselves
but their families and so I continue to
be inspired by the students who believe
that a different world is possible that
we will one day no longer have food
insecurity on our campuses and our
society while we get there we will be
providing this direct service to our
students we will be doing that with a
smile and with love and support and so
may we continue may we continue to draw
inspiration from our ancestors may we
continue to love the way your families
have taught us to do may we continue to
show support and love to those who need
you [Applause]
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