This announcement arrived yesterday in an email from the University of Hawaii Alumni Association. It seems the public is being asked to donate food or money to be distributed to hungry UH students.

It sent me looking for further information on the problem of student hunger. The creation of a pilot program for “food insecure” students was featured in an article that appeared in Ka Leo, the UH Manoa student newspaper, in August.

It turns out that a survey “found about 40 percent of surveyed graduate or professional students on campus were food insecure and half of undergraduate students were.”

In addition:

“29 percent of graduate and professional students and 37 percent of undergraduates reported as being food insecure while having “moderate hunger” or “severe hunger.”

Last year, after being provided the survey results, Associated Students of the University of Hawai?i at M?noa (ASUH) voted to create a food pantry, known as “Food Vault Hawaii”, on the Manoa campus.

According to Ka Leo, the Food Vault operates on the honor system, and there will be no restrictions on how much food can be taken. Those coming to get food will simply have to show they are registered students by scanning their student ID cards.

If this is close to being accurate, I would hope that there will be additional reporting of the problem and its dimensions. And if it’s true for this many university students, what about their families? And the resident population as a whole?