{"id":9066,"date":"2025-11-21T19:57:30","date_gmt":"2025-11-21T19:57:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.troy.edu\/trojanvision\/?p=9066"},"modified":"2025-11-21T19:57:30","modified_gmt":"2025-11-21T19:57:30","slug":"campus-kitchens-supports-community-amid-snap-uncertainty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.troy.edu\/trojanvision\/2025\/11\/21\/campus-kitchens-supports-community-amid-snap-uncertainty\/","title":{"rendered":"Campus Kitchens supports community amid SNAP uncertainty"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>TROY, Ala. (<a href=\"http:\/\/today.troy.edu\/TROJANVISION\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">TROJANVISION<\/a>) \u2014 Although the longest government shutdown in history has ended, a Troy University service organization is still working to help those struggling with food insecurity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The government may be open, but many Americans are still missing their <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fns.usda.gov\/snap\/supplemental-nutrition-assistance-program\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">SNAP<\/a> benefits. Troy University\u2019s Campus Kitchens has been providing food support locally for years, but recently its operation has taken on even greater importance. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe know that food is now more of a critical resource than it ever has been,&#8221; said Lauren Cochran, the Coordinator of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.troy.edu\/academics\/academic-resources\/center-student-success\/office-of-civic-engagement\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Office of Civic Engagement<\/a>. &#8220;This is a way that we routinely serve our community, but we know that, right now, it is critically important.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Student volunteers meet every Thursday to pack balanced meals for the community. Meals are made from leftover food from Troy University\u2019s dining hall. Friday, the food is delivered to service centers across the area. One volunteer said she is grateful for the opportunity to be able to help people at any time, not just in times of higher need.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>RELATED NEWS:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/today.troy.edu\/trojanvision\/2025\/10\/31\/trojan-pantry-extends-hours-to-help-students-affected-by-snap-disruption\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Trojan Pantry extends hours to help students affected by SNAP disruption<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/today.troy.edu\/trojanvision\/2025\/10\/31\/local-service-organization-concerned-for-pike-county-families-ahead-of-snap-ending\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Local service organization concerned for Pike County families ahead of SNAP ending<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re only here for four years, and that is four years that we can do something for the Troy community,&#8221; said Vanessa Bell, a student volunteer with the Civic Scholars Program. &#8220;Volunteering is just a very rewarding experience because you get help someone who otherwise might not have gotten that help.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to Cochran, passion for service is common among volunteers. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe find that students really appreciate the ability to give back and be a part of their community,&#8221; Cochran said. &#8220;It helps them connect to their community as well. A lot of the students who volunteer with us have one, two, three jobs and they find a way to serve and to fit this in.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Congress\u2019 passing of the \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.congress.gov\/bill\/119th-congress\/house-bill\/1\/text\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Big Beautiful Bill<\/a>\u201d over the summer set new, more restrictive limits and requirements for SNAP eligibility. Those limits were supposed to go into effect November 1. Now that the government is open again, those restrictions are in affect, and funding is being distributed.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The campus kitchen is available for all students to volunteer. If you are interested, go to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/troy_service\/?hl=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">@troy_service<\/a> on Instagram and find the campus kitchens link in the bio.&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>TROY, Ala. (TROJANVISION) \u2014 Although the longest government shutdown in history has ended, a Troy University service organization is still working to help those struggling with food insecurity.<\/p>\n<p>The government may be open, but many Americans are still missing their SNAP benefits. Troy University\u2019s Campus Kitchens has been providing food support locally for years, but&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"a-button\" href=\"https:\/\/today.troy.edu\/trojanvision\/2025\/11\/21\/campus-kitchens-supports-community-amid-snap-uncertainty\/\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":9132,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1127],"tags":[2711,2709,2713,2710,2714,2715,2712],"topics":[],"class_list":["post-9066","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus-news","tag-alabama-snap","tag-snap","tag-troy-campus-kitchens","tag-troy-snap","tag-troy-university-civic-engagement","tag-troy-university-civic-scholars","tag-troy-university-dining-hall"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.troy.edu\/trojanvision\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9066","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.troy.edu\/trojanvision\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.troy.edu\/trojanvision\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.troy.edu\/trojanvision\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.troy.edu\/trojanvision\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9066"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/today.troy.edu\/trojanvision\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9066\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9131,"href":"https:\/\/today.troy.edu\/trojanvision\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9066\/revisions\/9131"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.troy.edu\/trojanvision\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9132"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.troy.edu\/trojanvision\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9066"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.troy.edu\/trojanvision\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9066"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.troy.edu\/trojanvision\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9066"},{"taxonomy":"topics","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.troy.edu\/trojanvision\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topics?post=9066"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}