FLORENCE, SC (WBTW) – This week, Florence-Darlington Technical College announced the opening of its campus food bank.
A recent study shows 70 percent of Tech’s student population is low-income and food insecure.
“Most of them receive free lunch or reduced lunch in high school. So when they got here and when they found that we do not have a cafeteria that serves free food. It was kind of like a downer,” Leroy D. Gibson, Director of Student Life.
The school says the food bank provides meals for students that often don’t get a chance to eat.
“You have fathers and mothers. You know some of them haven’t eaten all day and sometimes this is the only shelter they have. This is the only source of communication they have,” Gibson stated.
You would never think that on a college campus that you would have a homeless population,” he added.
This past fall, the school presented the idea of having a food bank and with the help of faculty and staff more than 1,000 cans were collected during the “Yes We CAN” food drive.
“I think when the word got out that we have a food bank established for the students, their expression was like wow they really care about us,” mentioned Gibson.
If you would like to donate items you can contact the office of student life (843) 661-8023.
