Stomachs are rumbling in the Stillwater community.

 

From the outside, Stillwater looks like a flourishing college town, with life and positivity radiating from its borders. However, outside of Oklahoma State University’s campus limits, there is a town that struggles to feed its own. 

 

From The United States Census Bureau in 2021, Oklahoma has the 10th highest poverty rate in the nation at 15.6%. 1 in 3 members of the Stillwater community are living in poverty..

 

Those in such circumstances are not left to go hungry. Federal resources such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, formally known as food stamps, are available for Oklahomans in need, allowing them to buy the food they need with electronic benefits transfer (EBT) cards.

 

To qualify for SNAP benefits, Oklahomans must meet several criteria:

​

• Must be residents of the United States, or have documentation of immigration.

• Must be an unemployed adult between the ages of 18 and 50. 

• Income requirements based on the number of people per household.

• Social security numbers for all members of the household.

 

During the COVID-19 pandemic, congress raised SNAP allowances to help support those benefiting from them at the time through the Families First Coronavirus Response Act. The emergency allotment  of an extra $95 per household began in April 2020 and ended in February, with SNAP allowances returning to their pre-pandemic rates. With the recent inflation of 11.4% in food and resources nationwide, Stillwater households are still facing food insecurity. That’s where members of the community have stepped up to help. 

 

Lending a helping hand

 

Founded in 2017, Our Daily Bread Food and Resource Center serves about 1,000 people from the Stillwater area each month. Depending on the number of heads in each household, that number often doubles or triples. Guests, as they are referred to, are given the opportunity to shop for food and other products based on the number of members per household. The selection includes whole grain bread products, canned goods, eggs and refrigerated meats. Operations Manager Zack Wilson said that once a shipment of food is received, volunteers work on inspection, with typically one person assigned to produce, meat and other goods as needed.

 

With the large number of guests served each month, Our Daily Bread relies entirely on volunteers from the community  to stock shelves and the warehouse, and help guests shop for their households. Program manager Garrett Smith said he is grateful to have many hands willing to help.

​

“I think that people that come in here know the atmosphere that we're trying to set and they appreciate it so that the community is a huge supporter,” Smith said.

 

Smith hopes that Our Daily Bread not only serves the community with basic needs but also helps to develop connections to give the best care and service possible, even if it’s through something as little as helping to load cars for guests or simple conversations with them.

 

“Because we have the different volunteer roles of shopping assistant or our intake positions,” Smith said. “You're just able to connect with your community members a lot here, and in a bunch of different ways.”

​

​

​

​

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Power beyond prayer

 

Aside from established resource centers, churches are another helping hand within the community. First United Methodist Church in Stillwater works to feed and take care of those in need. Once a week, it offers free showers, clothing and a Thursday dinner for all in need. The church also works to help feed children in all Stillwater schools, providing weekend food sacks for students to take home once the bell rings on Friday. 

 

The food sacks are stuffed with up to 11 Cisco Wholesale items, including canned goods, juice boxes and whole grain snacks. Understanding children might not have access to clean silverware, the church also includes a plastic spork in each bag. More than 2,000 sacks are compiled each month by volunteers who later deliver them in boxes to the schools, where children can anonymously receive them each Friday. 

 

“We don't know the children that receive it,” said Karen Hinton, one of the weekend food sack coordinators at First United Methodist Stillwater. “We just know that the schools go to the counselors, and then the counselors distribute to the students.”

 

 

​

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hungry minds

 

Children often face food insecurity. While adults facing food insecurity must rely on SNAP benefits and other resources, children have the opportunity to receive free or reduced lunch during the week, along with a free breakfast. Through SNAP, the standard price of lunch drops from $2.60 for Pre-K through 5th grade and $2.85 for 6th through 12th grade to $0.40 across the board. 

 

Krista Neal, food services director for SPS, said nearly 45% of students throughout the district are on the free-reduced lunch program. However, getting families to apply for the program, or even SNAP benefits in general, is something Neal and her team struggle with.

 

“We do everything we can to get a parent to fill out the application,” Neal said. “But maybe the kids are back and forth between homes, maybe their parents aren’t involved. I do everything I can with social workers to find them and help figure out if we can get those kids on food stamps.” 

 

Even if students aren’t enrolled for SNAP, they are seldom turned away. While the student is able to be fed, he or she is still billed for the meal. Neal said that once the family's bill exceeds $50, they are sent to collection agencies. 

 

We're worried about the family that has never applied for free meals, and has never paid a dime and they owe hundreds of dollars,” Neal said.

 

Stillwater Public Schools Superintendent Uwe Gordon served as principal of Stillwater High School for 16 years. During his time there, the Pioneer Pantry was created to provide students with resources. It did not provide food directly. Instead, it provided personal hygiene products and transportation instructions to get students to Our Daily Bread to ensure they received what they needed.

 

Gordon also recalled a time that the local Panera Bread stepped in to provide additional food for students in 2019.

 

“At a certain point.... it ages too much to sell,” Gordon said. “So they would call us and say ‘hey, we have some bread and some cakes and things for you guys’. We'd go get them and bring them back over, and we just put them out.”

 

The donations from Panera were short-lived. Gordon said students who were not in need of it would take advantage of the free bread and waste it on food fights after school.

 

Stillwater Public Schools officials are concerned with whether the food provided is of adequate nutritional value to students. Within that concern is making sure the sodium levels in school lunches are not too high. Neal said she works long hours to ensure that students are properly nourished throughout the day.

 

 The United States Department of Agriculture’s sodium restrictions for grade levels often make it difficult to afford the food without raising the price for students and their families.

 

“I'm feeding them physically as much food as we can afford,”  Neal said. “On that $4 reimbursement. We do have some sodium restrictions. USDA, I'm talking to you, these sodium restrictions are too strict.”

 

While many growing students tend to complain about not getting enough to eat at lunch, it turns out that the food served actually provides adequate nourishment. A 2022 study by Dr. Jill Joyce, assistant professor of nutritional sciences at OSU, as well as two other collaborators, Makayla Simmons and Deanna Hildebrand, took a deeper look at the nutritional value in school lunch programs at the national level and also breakfast and after school snack programs.

 

Their research concluded that schools should implement fresh fruits, vegetables, grains and meats into their food programs as they provide plenty of nutrients needed for students.

 

Feeding the future

 

Due to recent inflation rates, affordability of food has become more of a challenge. States such as New York, California and Nevada, among others, have implemented universal free meals in schools for students. Oklahoma State Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters was contacted for comment on if the state government plans to implement similar programs but did not return the request to comment. 

 

With what the future holds unknown, what is known is that the Stillwater community is one that steps up to take care of their own, feeding the future that has the potential to make changes to combat food insecurity not just within the town, but throughout the state.