Thank you, Madam Chair and members of the subcommittee. My name is Bennett Snyder. I am a senior at William & Mary, and I am currently serving as president of William & Mary’s Food for All, which is the student organization that operates the food pantries on William & Mary’s campus. I am speaking today in support of the Hunger Free Campus Act.
I believe higher education can have the power to lift people out of poverty. However, simply attending an institution of higher learning is not enough for first-generation or limited-income students to lift them out of poverty. These students need support and consolidated resources. That’s what this bill will do.
I’m speaking to you as a student who is well-off and whose parents both have Masters’ degrees. The systems at William & Mary to support students are in many ways designed for people like me. Even with that, I have had to jump through bureaucratic hurdles to access resources while in college. In talking with other students, I know that these hurdles are even tougher to jump over if you are first-generation or low-income – especially for basic needs like food and housing. One reason that I support this bill is that it requires participating colleges to create a task force dedicated to improving services for basic needs on campus. By requiring participating schools to do this, hurdles will be eliminated, and students will have better access to the resources they need to make it through college and to start a successful career.
Our food pantries save lives and prevent students from dropping out of college. However, at William & Mary, our resources are also limited because we are a completely student-run organization managing a food pantry, with no advisor or university office supporting us. We are a club like the chess club, and our funding is like the chess club’s. This is not a sustainable model for feeding students who need food the most. This bill will provide avenues for better institutional support for our programs and reduce barriers so that low-income students can make the best of their college experience to achieve the American promise of prosperity. Thank you for your time and I encourage you to vote in favor of this bill.
Thank you, Madam Chair and members of the subcommittee. My name is Bennett Snyder. I am a senior at William & Mary, and I am currently serving as president of William & Mary’s Food for All, which is the student organization that operates the food pantries on William & Mary’s campus. I am speaking today in support of the Hunger Free Campus Act. I believe higher education can have the power to lift people out of poverty. However, simply attending an institution of higher learning is not enough for first-generation or limited-income students to lift them out of poverty. These students need support and consolidated resources. That’s what this bill will do. I’m speaking to you as a student who is well-off and whose parents both have Masters’ degrees. The systems at William & Mary to support students are in many ways designed for people like me. Even with that, I have had to jump through bureaucratic hurdles to access resources while in college. In talking with other students, I know that these hurdles are even tougher to jump over if you are first-generation or low-income – especially for basic needs like food and housing. One reason that I support this bill is that it requires participating colleges to create a task force dedicated to improving services for basic needs on campus. By requiring participating schools to do this, hurdles will be eliminated, and students will have better access to the resources they need to make it through college and to start a successful career. Our food pantries save lives and prevent students from dropping out of college. However, at William & Mary, our resources are also limited because we are a completely student-run organization managing a food pantry, with no advisor or university office supporting us. We are a club like the chess club, and our funding is like the chess club’s. This is not a sustainable model for feeding students who need food the most. This bill will provide avenues for better institutional support for our programs and reduce barriers so that low-income students can make the best of their college experience to achieve the American promise of prosperity. Thank you for your time and I encourage you to vote in favor of this bill.