Olufemi Odiah ’29 (second from right) and other members of Circle K International at Kenyon volunteer at a mobile pantry in Mount Vernon every month.
When Olufemi Odiah ’29 helps out at a pop-up mobile food pantry in Mount Vernon, he can see dozens of people that he’s helping directly — but he knows there are so many more.
“People say, ‘I’m not just shopping for my family; I’m shopping for other families, as well, or my grandchildren. … There’s a need from the people who are coming, but there’s even people who aren’t able to make it. It’s a pretty big impact. It’s just been an amazing project to help out with.”
Odiah is president of Kenyon’s Circle K club, a community service organization overseen by the Office for Community Partnerships. Group members regularly help at the Community Hunger Outreach Mobile Pantry (CHOMP) market on the third Saturday of each month from April to October, and last month they volunteered at a harvest meal for community members at Faith Lutheran Church as well.
Their work is part of a wide-ranging effort by students to help fight food insecurity, something that more than 14,000 people are estimated to struggle with in Knox County, according to the nonprofit Food for the Hungry.
Members of the Kenyon Young Democratic Socialists of America (KYDSA) help out regularly at Center of Hope, one of the largest food assistance operations in the region. It offers a free fresh-food market and other services in nearby Bladensburg, Ohio.
Angus Allan ’28, KYDSA co-chair, said the regular volunteering is an opportunity to connect with members of the broader community and makes a real difference. He helps every Thursday by unloading food from trucks and cleaning up after the market closes.
“I think food is one of the most important material needs that people have, and when we were thinking about ways that we can have a very direct, measurable, positive impact on our community, (resolving) food insecurity was just kind of an obvious choice,” he said.
The student group also helped Hard Knox Mutual Aid. This past spring, students held a food and clothing drive in the spring that collected enough items to feed and clothe 25 people, he said.
For one student, Elise Iversen ’29, her efforts last academic year volunteering with Center of Hope through KYDSA turned into a job over the summer, when she helped with restocking and sorting food, unloading trucks and greeting customers.
“I wanted something that I could do that felt hands-on,” she said. “It’s also cool to see the same people every week and develop a connection with them.”
Dawnel Volzke, CEO of Center of Hope, said that Kenyon volunteers make a huge difference as its local market assists between 150 and 200 families per week and many more through the fresh food it provides to pantries and programs throughout the region.
“Our team, like many nonprofits, is really stretched thin, and we move thousands and thousands and thousands of pounds of food on a weekly basis,” she said. “So when you think about the scale of that, we really can use the extra physical labor. Students bring energy, enthusiasm and new ideas. And one thing that we have learned about Kenyon students is they’re just willing to jump right in and help.”
Abby Potter ’29 has approached the problem of food insecurity from the ground up — literally. As a student worker at the Kenyon Farm, she helps to grow all sorts of produce, some of which is made available for free to community members and donated to local organizations.
This year, the farm — which has partnerships with local businesses like the Village Market and sells wholesale to Kenyon’s dining hall — has donated more than 400 pounds of tomatoes, eggplants, jalapeños, green and yellow beans, squash and cucumbers to Center of Hope alone, according to Chrissie Laymon ’01, Kenyon Farm production manager.
“Our surplus goes to local food pantries and to the local foods program at Knox County Head Start,” Laymon said. “Our student farmers do more than farm. They are valued members of our community who work alongside local producers and learn what it means to grow food for the people around them.”
Potter also is part of a group of students on Student Council’s buildings, grounds and sustainability committee who are working to get excess food from the dining hall into the hands of those who need it most in partnership with the Food Recovery Network, which describes itself as the largest student-led movement in the country recovering surplus food. She expects the work to begin soon and eventually transform into a full-fledged student club.
“There is a lot of food that just goes uneaten in general, and I think people just ignore it. They just throw it out. This is such an easy way to uplift local communities and make food access easier. It’s also a way for people to just get fresher food. … And it’s a very unique way to get college students involved,” Potter said. “I’m very excited about it.”