SKYCTC food pantry gets boost

Houchens Food Group Regional Managers Jimmy Stewart (left) and Johnathan McCreery load bundles of canned food onto carts at the Southern Kentucky Community and Technical College on Wednesday. Houchens donated the food to the SKYCTC Pathfinder Food Pantry, a free resource for students at the college.

  PHOTOS BY JACK DOBBS / jack.dobbs@bgdailynews.com 

By MICHAEL J. COLLINS michael.collins@bgdailynews.com 

The Southcentral Kentucky Community and Technical College’s Pathfinder Food Pantry helps hundreds of students stay fed and ready for class.

On Wednesday, leaders of Houchens Food Group wheeled in carts of cans and goods to donate, a gift marking the unofficial “partnership” between the company and SKYCTC.

Houchens Food Group Regional Manager Jimmy Stewart said it was a way to say thanks for two-and-a-half years of customized professional training through the SKYCTC Frontline Leadership Academy.

“We built a really good partnership there, so we jumped in and said ‘where can we help?’ ” Stewart said. “We partnered with them to try to fulfill some of the weight and the needs they have here on the campus.”

Employees from Houchens’ subsidiary companies, including IGA, Save-A-Lot, Ace Hardware, Slim Chickens and Sonic, have collectively completed a total 1,010 training hours. An additional 524 hours are scheduled for completion by June 30.

The program offers lessons in practical skills, like Microsoft Office software training, as well as ethical and communication skills.

Stewart said they aim to send all of their management and leadership teams to the program, adding it has made them “better trained at what they do” and able to provide “better service to the community.”

He added that they will continue supporting the pantry as supplies dwindle or other needs arise.

SKYCTC Director of Student Life David Travis, who helps oversee the pantry, said he was “tickled pink” at Houchens’ contribution. He said a survey sent to students previously identified just over 200 in need of food assistance.

“It’s just a wonderful thing to have this partnership where they’re seeing this need and wanting to support that need,” Travis said. “If a person donates a can, to me, that’s just as important as a person donating a truckload, because it’s a person wanting to be of service to support our students.”

Travis added the Pathfinder Pantry distributes food in a variety of ways, including grab-and-go and delivery options, at each of their six campuses using only their student ID. Students may also request additional servings for their families.

“We’ll try to figure out a nice combination to give them, a few different meal options that work together to create a well balanced dinner or lunch or breakfast-type options for each day,” Travis said. “We have students who live in a five person household. We don’t question it, we just want to make sure they have what they need.”