Los Medanos College students were greeted with music, games and resource booths during the CalFresh and Mental Health Awareness event aimed at connecting students with support both on and off campus.
Held as a part of CalFresh Awareness Month and Mental Health Awareness Month, the event brought together campus programs and community organizations to provide students with information about food assistance, mental health services and other basic needs resources in an interactive setting. The event was on May 7 from
“We’re trying to provide mental health resources to students in a fun, interactive manner,” said Megela Ohare, a Basic Needs coordinator who helped support the event.
The event featured activities such as bingo-style resource games, prize drawing and booths focused on wellness and food access. Students who visited tables and interacted with organizations could enter raffles for grocery gift cards and receive informational resource bags.
Ohare said the event was designed to show students how closely food security and mental health are connected.
“You need to be fed,” she said. “One of our activities shows how different foods impact your mood.”
Organizations at the event included the Food Bank, Covered California, the Center for Human Development, LMC Marketplace and the League of Women Voters. Representatives also shared information about housing support, CalFresh assistance and campus wellness programs.
“Having resources helps you to be successful,” Ohare said. “If your mental health, if you’re not in the right mood to study academically, that affects students too.”
Cheyenne Phan, who tabled with the LMC Marketplace, said the event is important to people because it helps students gain access to food and basic necessities available while attending school.
“Everyone needs food, especially in California where everything is so expensive and it costs an arm and a leg to get everything, so making sure people have access to food helps,” she said. “We try to gather what we have at the Marketplace.”
Phan said not having to worry about where the next meal will come from can make a major difference for students, especially essential to the college experience, even when you have family to think about.
“It also helps you in other aspects of life because then you don’t have to worry about where your next paycheck is going, like, what am I going to do if I don’t have food?” Phan said.
The Marketplace table also offered free necessities like toothbrushes, children’s clothes, canned goods and toiletries. The table also included a box for book donations.
Basic Needs Student Ambassador Pamela Pereira also helped coordinate activities and student engagement throughout the event. To Pereira, this event was important because it showed students that there are different resources around campus and outside of campus so they can learn how to use them and the information surrounding them.
One issue with getting help is that reaching out for help can sometimes be difficult, scary, or embarrassing for others.
“Don’t be shy. We are here to help. I’m a student ambassador so I’m here to help them. I know that they can be nervous, shy or maybe not aware that the students also help other students. We are here. We understand that all of us may need help,” said Pereira.
Sometimes people can have misconceptions about CalFresh according to Pereira. “They go saying that they are not qualified to apply or maybe they can, or they are getting the benefits from other people, but no, CalFresh is for people that really need it,” she said.
At LMC, many services like the marketplace are available for all students that need it, you just have to ask.
