Hopkinsville Community College receives over $32,000 grant from Feeding America Kentucky’s Heartland

Hopkinsville Community College, Inc. has been chosen to receive a grant totalling $32,310 from Feeding America Kentucky's Heartland. The money will go toward the Pathfinder Pantry at Hopkinsville Community College. 

At a ceremony to announce the grant at the Feeding America Kentucky’s Heartland office in Elizabethtown, Kentucky, Dr. Alissa Young and Yvette Eastham received the award from the organization’s Executive Director, Jamie Sizemore. Dr. Alissa Young serves as Hopkinsville Community College’s president and CEO, while Yvette Eastham works as the chief institutional advancement officer.

Jamie Sizemore was quoted by Clarksville Online as she spoke about the goal of the grant, saying, “We’re here today to advocate for better and additional resources for those that are facing hunger and addressing those root causes of hunger.”

The money awarded in the grant will be used to buy Pathfinder Pantry a commercial-sized freezer which will allow the college to be able to have more frozen goods available to students in need. Some of the money will also be used to pay students who work in the pantry, expanding the hours of operation, so students who need access to the pantry have more opportunity to utilize its services. 

Hopkinsville Community College Foundations was also awarded $3,625 in grocery store gift cards from Barry Shelton and Craig Thompson of Food Lion. 

Food insecure students tend to have a more difficult time academically succeeding, and drop out at higher rates. It is statistics like that that inspired Hopkinsville Community College officials to provide a food pantry to students of the school.

The Pathfinder Pantry opened in the fall of 2019 and provides food to students in need free of charge. In addition to shelf stable foods, it also provides hygiene products and infant and toddler care items. More information about the pantry can be found here.

Feeding America, Kentucky’s Heartland serves 42 Kentucky counties and is partnered with more than 225 other agencies in the region. Since its inception in 1982, the organization has distributed almost 300 million pounds of grocery items such as food to needy people in western, south, and central Kentucky, over 13 million meals worth of food at a value of almost $500 million.

Hopkinsville Community College offers many programs in subjects ranging from the arts to criminal justice, healthcare, and more. Hopkinsville is a two year school that offers students the opportunity to receive associate degrees in more than 20 programs. For more information about the school visit its website.