Students pack fresh produce in the parking lot on the corner of Cooper Square North & Washington Street in downtown Hempstead, New York.
On Sunday, Feb. 1, student volunteers participated in a food share in downtown Hempstead, New York, as part of the Hofstra Days of Service program. The participants filled and organized boxes and bags full of fresh produce to be distributed to local families.
The food share was organized by a local organization known as Community Solidarity, a nonprofit whose stated mission is to “fight the social, economic and environmental oppressions that are inflicted upon our community and our planet.” The community service group organizes weekly food shares of fruits and vegetables on Sundays to serve the local community.
Anita Ellis, the director of Commuting Student Services and Community Outreach, has collaborated with Community Solidarity to organize this program for many years. The food shares were suspended during the pandemic, but Ellis said she worked to reopen the offering last year after taking notice of many students volunteering unaffiliated from Hofstra University.
“They’ve been doing it for years,” Ellis said. “[Hofstra students have] gone [since] before the pandemic, and then I just thought, we should go back again. A lot of good students used to go, sometimes on their own, so I said, ‘let’s institute it again.’”
A diverse array of students attended the food share, ranging from those experienced in community service to those volunteering for the first time.
Hannah Alfasso, a senior global studies and history double major, has volunteered at the food share every year during her time at Hofstra.
“I really enjoy giving back to the community, and I had a good experience the other three times while I was here, so I thought I might as well come back and help out,” Alfasso said.
Others volunteered at the food share for the first time, like Jermani Desir, a freshman mechanical engineering major. Desir said he once relied on community food services and expressed enthusiasm at being able to give back.
“I’m happy to be here because I understand this predicament,” Desir said. “I’ve been in [a] place where I’ve had to get food from one of these pantries, so for me to help is … inspiring to me. To [go from] first having to use [food banks] for my own sustenance to now [being] able to help other people get them is kind of nice.”
Adam Sohigian, a freshman sociology major, has valued community service highly since before he became a Hofstra student. In his hometown of Los Angeles, California, Sohigian says he worked extensively with People Assisting the Homeless, an organization dedicated to providing shelter and services to homeless people.
“Now that I’m up here I want to continue to do that as much as I can, to help people who need help because the community here is a lot like certain neighborhoods of [Los Angeles] in which people are poor and need food and … it’s not being distributed equitably,” Sohigian said.
Although not as severe as other areas of the country, food insecurity rates in Nassau County and the Town of Hempstead have increased since the pandemic. Now, 7.6% of Nassau County residents, or almost 100,000 people, are food insecure, as estimated in a “Map the Meal Gap” study conducted in 2022 by the nonprofit Feeding America.
The previous year, the study estimated only 4.4% of county residents to be food insecure. In the Town of Hempstead, 5.4% of households are on food stamps, according to a 2021 health equity report by New York State. New York District 4, where the Town of Hempstead and Hofstra are located, has an even higher rate of food insecurity at 7.8% in the district.
In the face of these growing issues, student volunteers, such as Sohigian, believe Hofstra students must engage with their community.
“I don’t see very many people doing what needs to be done [like] helping people and getting involved in the opportunities that are available,” Sohigian said. “I don’t see enough of that, and I think it would be better if more people got involved.”
