Buffalo State Students Devote Spring Break to Combating Food Insecurity

Buffalo State students spent a good part of their spring recess on an Alternative Break service project to support three community partners on March 29 and 30. This year's Alternative Break theme was Farm to Table, supporting initiatives to combat hunger and food insecurity in the community. The Civic and Community Engagement Office (CCE) also held a food drive to collect donations in support of the Alternative Break initiatives. Volunteers collected and organized 143 pounds of donations for Big Big Table, a pay-what-you-can community café, and Provisions 139, a West Side food pantry. Alternative break volunteers also helped tend to and prepare various farm beds at Five Loaves, an urban farming initiative.

“Growing up in a food desert, socioeconomic issues relating to food are very close to my heart,” said Xiamara Brooks (far left, brown jacket), a sophomore biology and philosophy major who served as an Alternative Break student leader. “After learning that the Alternative Spring Break program this year would be centered around food inaccessibility in low-income Buffalo areas, I decided it was the perfect way to spend a few days of my spring break. It was a very fulfilling endeavor, and I wouldn’t have spent my time anywhere else doing anything else.”

The Alternative Break program was led by Lisa Kragbé, assistant director of the CCE (fourth from right). Seiki Kawahara, a senior health sciences major (second from left), and Desiray Slaughter, a graduate student in higher education administration (center, purple water bottle), also served as Alternative Break student leaders.

Photos by Jesse Steffan-Colucci, Buffalo State photographer.