Written By Jasmine Meriedy
In November, families gather and travel all across to eat delicious food prepared to leave you with a full stomach at the table. For some families, that isn’t the case. Either they cannot afford or have the means to buy food to cook, or some people don’t have the means to fly home. One thing that all HBCUS can agree on is that everyone in the community is our family from the students inside the campus to the families surrounding the campus. HBCUs play a significant part in giving back to the community. Southern University has come up with various ways to help out families in the surrounding community some ways are giving out clothes that have not been worn, giving out jackets to keep those in the community warm, and last but not least having food banks for those who are hungry.
Historically black colleges serve to promote African American history from organizations that help enrich the youth and the local communities with diverse cultures. The whole purpose of HBCUs is to help the black community grow in higher learning and gather when someone in the community needs help. Another thing that HBCUs such as Southern is the forefront for social change from the NAACP making sure the students are registered to vote in local elections.
Doing a food drive on campus is very helpful for the community because if you didnât know, Baton Rouge is in a food desert. A food desert is where you don’t have various necessities and varieties of accessible food choices. Especially on this side of the railroad track in Scotlandville, where Southern is and thirty-four percent of people here live in poverty but if you cross over to the other side there’s a lot more variety for food choices. However, some people are not able to get over to the LSU side because that’s more money that they have to spend that they are maybe limited to.
The digest decided to go around campus and ask how everyone feels about their HBCU giving back to the community. The first student that Digest got to speak with was Christian James, a sophomore business major. Christian said, âI think itâs a good thing because there are a lot of people who are hungry and people to do this for them. There are a lot of people who will not speak up when they need help and this is a great opportunity for themâ. This is a fact. Unfortunately, in the black community, we are worried about what others will think, but we shouldnât have to. This is why Southern is helping. Also, for the students on campus, the university has a food pantry located inside of the union by the game room to help feed students who may not have the means to go grocery shopping. The only thing a student needs to do is bring their student ID and U number to get their needed necessities.