From Food Pantry to CARE Center in a Rural College: Our Journey

ABSTRACT Research consistently describes the large percentage of community college students who struggle to meet their basic needs such as food and housing. These challenges may be exacerbated for students in rural communities. At the same time, we are also learning more about the connection between addressing students’ basic needs and improving their educational outcomes. Food pantries are a way community colleges have been responding to food insecurity, and recent trends include expansion of food pantries into basic needs hubs. This article walks through lessons learned in how a faculty member who teaches social work at Northeast Texas Community College, a small, rural college, developed their campus food pantry into a more holistic CARE Center, and did so in the middle of the COVID‐19 pandemic.