A group of about 15 staff members and volunteers crowded inside a small supply room at Austin Community College's Eastview Campus on Tuesday. They were there, working to replenish the campus' food pantry before classes begin later this month.
"They are stocking all of our shelves with shelf-stable items, snacks, toiletries, hygiene items, baby items," Vanessa Barrientos, ACC's food access manager, said.
The college recently announced it would be opening a food pantry, like the one at Eastview, at each of its 11 campuses this fall.
The pantries, called "Riverbat Bites," will feature healthy groceries, snacks and hygiene products. All items will be available to students, faculty and staff for free.
The goal is to make sure students have what they need to stay focused and succeed at school, Barrientos said.
"It's one less thing that they have to worry about," she said.
More than 60% of ACC's 74,000 students are classified as low-income, and must balance school with other responsibilities, such as work or caregiving, according to school officials. In a recent student survey, 48% said they were also food insecure.
"We know basic needs like food, housing, and child care directly affect whether a student can stay in school," Cara Crowley, ACC's special adviser to the chancellor for basic needs systems, said in a statement. "Meeting students' basic needs is essential to helping them persist, complete their degrees, and transform their lives."
The new pantries are modeled after ACC's Student Care Center on its Highland Campus. The center, which opened in 2023, allows students, faculty and staff to pick up groceries, including meat and produce, and grab a snack or a prepared meal — all for free.
"That might be something that they weren't able to access at Highland due to transportation," Barrientos said. "So they're excited to have something available to them at their campus, which will be a lot closer."
Brianna Butler, ACC's Riverbat Bites coordinator, said the pantries will also serve as a campus resource center for students in need.
"Not only do we have food access items and hygiene products, we also have advocates in the space that can help students navigate different resources that ACC has to offer," she said. "Getting textbooks, child care assistance, housing assistance, case management — things like that."
ACC students, faculty and staff will have access to the food pantries beginning Aug. 18. They will be able to check in using their college IDs.
