The pandemic has affected many students at Humboldt State University by limiting their access to food. When the pandemic hit in late May 2020, HSU’s eateries had limited hours and there was little to no access to the cafeteria. The cafeteria was the easiest way for students to save their J-points due to meals being not as costly as other places on campus.
Now as HSU is adjusting to the safety and regulations of opening up campus once more, there are still complications and not every student can afford daily meals.
In order to provide support to students in these rough times, fellow college students at HSU joined together to provide a service called Oh Snap! It is located in the Jolly Giant Commons on the first floor. According to Oh Snap! the service is intended to provide nutritional food to students who have limited access and spread awareness on food insecurity.
In order to support HSU, Oh Snap! has released several workshops via Zoom teaching students how to cook and prepare their own meals. Students can receive the ingredients for free and have them delivered to their dorms safely following COVID-19 guidelines.
Oh Snap! has also provided food bags for students including fresh produce to have and is also deliverable across Humboldt County. In order to attain a food bag, students must fill out a form every Wednesday which is posted on Instagram. If it is sent in before 12:30 pm the following day, they have secured a delivery.
According to the history of Oh Snap! on their Facebook page, they started out with just 10 students and two faculty members on the team. They did a lot of outreach with Calfresh food stamps and as they spread awareness, their service only continued to grow.
This is especially helpful to students who cannot afford J-points especially as the pandemic increased the limited access to food. According to Humboldt State University’s 2019 J-point Budget Sheet, it cost $945.00 for 94500 J-points. This can be difficult for many students to pay and manage especially with limited eateries being open on Humboldt State’s campus.
Oh Snap! has benefited many students, with 1,000 students visiting the first week and an average 1,900 visits after.
With any student being welcome to use the pantry once a week and have open access to applying for Calfresh food stamps application, this service continues to promote food for all.
