Meet Two Students Spending Summer Break Ending Hunger in their College Town

Students in St. Peter are putting their classroom teachings into action this summer, as the St. Peter Area Food Shelf welcomed Rebeca and Stella, two undergraduates from nearby Gustavus Adolphus College. 

Rebeca discovered the St. Peter Area Food Shelf last semester when she was assigned to work with the nonprofit organization during a marketing class. As a rising senior and an economics major, interning at the food shelf is helping Rebeca think about her next steps after graduation. “I find myself liking being somewhere that I can help people,” Rebeca says. “I would love to be in a nonprofit, so working here in the food shelf is good experience for that.”

Stella will be a junior this fall and is studying biology with a minor in public health. She found out about the opportunity to intern at the food shelf through her public health professor. “I have a specific interest in looking at healthcare and specifically how food insecurity affects health,” Stella says of choosing to intern at the food shelf. “Being able to have first-hand experience is something that I think is really quintessential to understanding that problem.”

Stella's interest in public health led her to St. Peter Area Food Shelf

As food shelf interns, Stella and Rebeca help around the food shelf, doing things like answering the phones, helping visitors shop, enrolling new visitors in their system, stocking the shelves, and keeping the place clean and tidy. On top of that, they are also involved in special projects, such as planning the food shelf’s SuperShelf open house and coming up with new, creative ways to thank donors. Rebeca, an international student from El Salvador, also helps translate for Spanish-speaking neighbors who visit the food shelf’s monthly produce distributions.

Not only does Rebeca benefit from everything she’s learning in her internship, she also gets food support from visiting the food shelf herself. “As a student, sometimes you don't have enough budget to go to super big stores like Walmart or Costco,” Rebeca says. “I just asked if I could shop around and [the food shelf staff] told me yes. So, it's been really helpful now that I'm covering the cost of food by myself. And, honestly, I feel like they have a really good variety of foods. Like, you can come here and get whatever you need.”

Rebeca uses the food shelf to stretch her food budget as a student

Both Stella and Rebeca wish that people knew that the food shelf isn’t a place of judgement or shame and that everyone needs support sometimes. “In general, I wish people knew that the food shelf is open and available, and that it's really welcome for everyone, no matter where you're at in your life,” Stella says. “Everyone faces struggles in their life, and no one should have to go hungry for it.”