A new partnership between Wegmans and Monroe Community College hopes to combat food insecurity facing students.

MCC grad Ayriana Winston says she understands poverty all too well.

“We’ve been a product of systematic oppression. My entire life I’ve lived in poverty. I still am considered living in poverty," Winston said. "Even though I went off to college, when I go home I still live in a rough area.”

If it wasn’t for a scholarship she received through the MCC Foundation, not only would college not be possible, but she could’ve faced other issues like hunger.

“Fortunately that wasn’t my situation, only because the scholarship was given to me right when I came to MCC so I was able to avoid that, but I do remember being in high school and having those concerns," Winston said. "Granted, I have a test today but I’m hungry. There wasn’t enough food at home.”

Hunger is an issue for more than half of MCC's 12,000 students, according to a recent survey the school participated in. It also found that three in every five students can't afford nutritional food, and more than one of every ten students faces conditions related to homelessness. 

College President Anne Kress says it's especially startling, considering a third of their students are parents.

“They were really a wakeup call," Kress said. "You hear an anecdote here or there that a student was going hungry, or a student might be homeless, but to see the magnitude in numbers of our students that face these real persistent issues every day, we knew we had to do something.”

Thanks to a $3 million gift from Wegmans, those students, like Winston, will be helped.

“You can’t really study if you’re hungry, you can’t do much... You can’t work if you’re hungry," Wegmans CEO, Danny Wegman, said. "So this is a really important initiative.”

The money will be used for food scholarships, low-cost community resources like MCC's food pantry, emergency grants and assistance to ensure students remain on track to graduate.

“These are challenges our students face every single day on their path to degrees, and these dollars will help us help them address these challenges,” Kress said.

Winston, who is approaching her five-year anniversary with Wegmans and is pursuing a master’s at RIT, hopes this move will remove barriers from anyone trying to achieve their goals.

“I’m thankful that the foundation has made this connection," Winston said. "I feel like this is something that is going to impact our entire community, and this is a beautiful thing. We all need to take advantage of it and continue to thrive.”