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A survey of Virginia Tech students published between 2018 and 2019 allowed researchers to see how many students on campus suffered from poor food security. The survey showed that 29% of undergraduates and 35% of graduate students are under food security umbrellas. Since then, Virginia Tech has introduced many resources to help these students.
Virginia Tech alumni Mehul and Hema Sanghani donated $1.5 million to fund The Market’s first pilot program in 2019. Kas Church, Associate Director of Food Access Initiatives at VT Engage, said: “It’s like the Blue Apron model, where the students received a box of pre-packaged ingredients and an accompanying set of recipe cards.”
In his second pilot of the program, his program worked with Virginia Tech’s Dining His Service to provide a student with her two bags of prepackaged groceries. The bags contained the student’s choice of products and proteins. “From there, version 3 finally came out in August 2021, finally securing a permanent place,” said Church.
The market is at 801 University City Blvd he next to the Math Emporium. “We tried to make students feel like they’re at the forefront of the market they come in. They can browse product options, fresh produce, and deli ahead of time,” Church said. “So it should be a market that doesn’t use a token system and doesn’t control people’s pockets.”
“Many of our international students may come with family members or at least spouses, so we are really working with the Graduate Professional Student Council, Cranwell (International Center), and the Graduate Schools to ensure that graduate students and I We try to discuss the needs of international students in relation to access to food and basic needs.
The church estimates that The Market provided her 14,000 meals to students, and reports that about 115 students come to The Market to pick up meals each week. “The last time I pulled the numbers, his 63% of our students were international graduate students,” Church said.