On UW-Eau Claires campus, food insecurity has devastating effects on low-income students

By Anna Soldner
Everyday, Raina Beutel, a 21-year-old junior at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, eats
a pack of instant ramen noodles. The difference between what may sound like a
stereotypical college student diet is that for Beutel, thats often her only meal.
Beutel grew up in a low-income household where nutritious food was scarce, and it
followed her to campus: She is nowquite literallya poor, hungry college student.
There are days where I eat two, Beutel said. Typically I would make sandwiches, but at
this present moment I cant afford those things. I really feel like Im in a position where I
cant do anything else.
Beutel is not alone. Faced with the pressures of rising costs of tuition and living, more and
more U.S. college students are going hungry or experiencing food insecurity. And while the
constraints that prevent many students from accessing healthy food are complex and
unique, students coming from low-income families are especially vulnerable to suffering.
Two UW-Eau Claire students and one recent graduate are witnesses to this hunger, and
have been brave enough to share their stories.

Raina Beutel, a UW-Eau Claire junior, in her home. Prior to the interview for this
story, Beutel had never voiced the debilitating consequences of food insecurity.
Beutel grew up in a low-income household where nutritious food was scarce, and it
followed her to campus: She is nowquite literallya poor, hungry college student.
In Eau Claire County, one in eight peopleand a startling one in five childrenare food
insecure, according to 2012-13 research conducted by the UW Extension office. That figure
includes college students living off-campus.
Whereas hunger means there is no next meal, food insecurity is the broader condition of
limitation and deprivation. Put simply, a food insecure person does not always know where
they will find their next meal.
It doesnt necessarily mean their family is in poverty as defined by the government,
explained Suzanne Becker, assistant director of Eau Claires Feed My People food bank.
Theres a lot of working poor [living] on the margins. If they have a car repair bill or
medical issue, that can spiral them into poverty.
Unexpected expenses can be especially devastating to families and individuals already
struggling. College students are not immune, either, as evidenced in the case of Beutel,
whose bank account was drained in February after a rear-end accident totaled her car.
Without transportation, Beutel feared losing her job at Menards, and in turn, her ability to
pay rent. In a situation of compromise, Beutel spent $4,000 of savings on a new caran
impulsive decision that has now left her financially and mentally exhausted.
Groceries took the hardest hita week straight of eating canned corn was a low point.
Academically, her grades have slipped from As to Cs. She frequently falls asleep at work,
has low energy and most recently, was found to have high blood pressure.
Had I thought it through? Not at all, Beutel said. Im starting to realize these impulse
choices, these convenient choices, are impacting me much more than I can understand at
this moment.
The context of choice
Mary Canales, a UW-Eau Claire nursing professor and public health researcher has studied
food insecurity within Eau Claire County. Canales said that in addition to physical well
being, hunger is also linked to adverse mental and psychosocial outcomes, such as
depression, learning difficulties, suicide and stress.
Further, complexities such as decision fatigue,or deterioration in smart decision-
making when forced to make constant choices are often overlooked in conversations
about poverty and hunger.
People make these very difficult decisions: Do I buy healthy food, or do I get my
medications, or do I get my car repaired, or do I pay for my childs needs? Canales
explained. Its exhausting; its very stressful, and it's not really considered when we think
about what its like to live in poverty.
Canales reiterated the importance of examining economic, social, environmental and policy
determinants of health, rather than only looking at what individuals can do to modify their
behavior, improve their lifestyle or eat more healthy.
Like many familiar with food insecurity, Beutel grew up in a poor household. Fast food and
snacking replaced fresh fruits and vegetables and sit-down meals.
I grew up in a family of convenience eaters, Beutel said. Since my parents worked, they
would make a frozen pizza every night. Thats what I am used to eating. Thats the supper I
know.
Too often, this is the reality for food insecure families: Enough money to put food on the
table, but not enough to provide a nutritionally adequate diet. A child deprived of a healthy,
balanced diet not only misses out on vital nutrients, but also lacks the cooking skills and
knowledge that can help prevent obesity and other health concerns later in life.
Im shocked that Im actually alive, Beutel admitted. Ive never been trained to be diligent
about healthy eating. Only recently did I know that people eat spinach instead of lettuce in
their salads.
Now in college and juggling 20-hour work weeks, an internship and 13 credits, Beutels diet
remains the same, where convenience and familiarity take precedence over nutritional
value.
If I go to a grocery store, the things that run through my mind are: Okay, I have $5. I can
get two apples, a can of corn but [with healthy food] theres the prep time I have to put
into it, and I have two papers to write and an exam tomorrow. Ill just go with what I
knowthe Ruffles, the Lunchables or something like that. Its convenient for my wallet and
puts me at ease; its definitely calming.
For the poor who aren't afforded the many conveniences of the affluent, convenience food
can come as a relief.
Decision fatigue helps explain why ordinarily sensible people get angry at colleagues and
families, splurge on clothes, buy junk food at the supermarket and cant resist the dealers
offer to rustproof their new car, John Tierney explains in this 2011 New York Times
column.
In a 2013 study released by prestigious weekly Science magazine, researchers found that
poverty itself can often be to blame for poor decision-making, as opposed to the other way
around. Pressed with the constant need to make budgetary trade-offs, people living in
poverty become so mentally depleted that their brains eventually start looking for
shortcutsoften manifesting in recklessness or avoidance.
For an individual like Beutel, the day-to-day stress and fatigue of living on such a tight
budget make her liable to only look at one factor, like convenience, when shopping. Beutel
said she would rather spend $9 at Taco Bell, where she doesn't have to make straining
decisions, than invest the energy in cooking.
A lot of people use food to cope, Canales said. Because they have limited money, theyre
buying McDonalds and Taco Bell. Its filling and its pleasurable.
The cost of compromise
Its this connection between a lack of money and cheapness of processed food that makes
situations more dangerous.

Melissa Gullickson, a single mom, 2011 UWEC graduate and services associate in the
department of nursing. Since losing food stamp eligibility, neither Gullickson nor her
daughter have been able to maintain a nutritionally adequate diet.
Take, for instance, Melissa Gullickson: A single mom, who, upon graduating as a
nontraditional student from UWEC in 2011, went six months with no job or income.
Eventually, her daughters father stopped paying child support. When food stamps ran out
theyd find themselves at a food pantry or borrowing money.
We had nothing, Gullickson said. If it had not have been for my housing assistance and
food stamps, we would have been either living in my parents basement or under a bridge.
To complicate matters, Gullickson later moved to Lake Street, an area the USDA has
identified as a food desert, or low-income census tracts where affordable and nutritious
food is difficult to obtain. At least 74 percent of people living in Eau Claires North Side Hill
and North River Fronts neighborhoods live more than a mile from a supermarket.
There are so many barriers to accessing food, especially in this downtown area, Gullickson
said. A lot of times I ended up going to Holiday gas station on Water Street because on
Sundays, the buses dont run. So if I couldnt get a ride, I was just out of luck.
Last year, Gullickson was hired for a limited term position in UWECs College of Education.
Employment came as a relief, she said, but not necessarily as a security: The new paycheck
was just enough to lose food stamp eligibility.
Even now with a good job that pays decently, its still hard, she said. Our fruit and
vegetable consumption has gone down a lot since I stopped getting food stampsI just
cant afford to buy them.
Its a proven fact that calorie for calorie, junk foods cost less than fresh fruits and
vegetables. And although there have been improvements, convenience stores such as
Holiday stock a limited selection of high fat, processed items.
Gullickson comes from a poor family. Fresh fruit was occasional, but she never got fresh
vegetables. While it may seem counter-intuitive, the food insecurity Gullickson experienced
as a child has been a primary factor in herand many otherslifelong battle against
obesity.
As a mother, Gullickson still doesnt get enough fresh food, and neither does her daughter.
With fruits and vegetables absent from their household diet, her daughter has become, in
the words of Gullickson, a carbohydrate fiend.
I dont want my daughter to have to struggle with her weight the way that I have, she said
through tears. It breaks my heart, because I cant do anything about it at this point in time. I
can only afford to give her what I can afford to give her.
Eau Claire County has the highest number of fast food restaurants in the state of
Wisconsin, according to the County Health Rankings & Roadmaps. An estimated 52 percent
of the Countys dining options are drive-through or take-out restaurants.
Without a grocery store in close proximity, Gullickson often found herself in situations of
extreme compromise. In one instance, money was so tight that Gullickson and her daughter
ate the same hamburger hot dish for 10 days straight. When their food stamps were finally
replenished, there was no gas in the car.
So we had the transportation, but I cant afford to put fuel in it to go to the grocery store,
she said. We ended up walking down to Holiday and buying a few things to get us through.
The Cycle of Poverty
It is known that single parentsespecially single mothersare dramatically more likely to
be plagued with food insecurity. This could explain why at UW-Eau Claire, administration
note a higher prevalence of food insecurity among both single-parent and nontraditional
students.
Drew Hagen, 36, is both. A UW-Eau Claire senior photography major and single father of
two, Hagen put off college because he didnt think he could afford it. Similar to Beutel and
Gullickson, he grew up poor, with working parents and limited access to healthy food.

UW-Eau Claire senior Drew Hagen, 36, in the art department's studio maintenance
room, where Hagan is employed part-time. The debilitating cycle of poverty has
undermined his ability to provide for his two children. Meals are so closely
budgeted that Hagen's kids have to ask before reaching into the cupboard.
Hagen works a part-time studio maintenance job in the university art department, but the
debilitating cycle of poverty has undermined his ability to provide for his children.
I know that frankly, Im continuing this cycle onto my kids, Hagen said. I really feel like
education is the ladder out of it. Its not a perfect fix but it gives me a beginning plan to
really change the context where I came from.
Hagen and his children arent starving. But they areas the term suggestsfood insecure.
Despite careful budgeting, Hagen said food stamps almost always run out at the end of the
month. And when finances are tight, food comes with rules.
I find myself in this system, this Catch-22: Where I have enough, but I dont, Hagen
explained. As a parent, I dont like telling my kids they cant go to the refrigerator or
cupboard and eat anything. Sadly, thats what I have to do, because theres only so much
food for so long.
Nancy Coffey, nutrition coordinator with the Eau Claire County UW-Extension, said securing
food becomes problematic for those working part-time, low-wage retail or service jobs.
If you look at food share and free lunch participation, its not getting better, she said.
Participation is increasing as unemployment decreases. Mostly its because many of the
people who are getting employed are making very little or they cant get full-time
employment.
In the fall of 2013, Coffey collaborated with Canales from the nursing department to
research community food insecurity. Results showed that the majority of families who
participated in the study had an annual income of $20,000 or less, with 42 percent
reporting cutting or skipping meals nearly every month because of insufficient food and 40
percent could not afford meals.
Its impossible literally impossible to live on $7.50 an hour and feed your family,
Canales said. You can work three jobs at that, and you still wont be above the federal
poverty level.
Although soft-spoken in nature, Hagen has been a strong voice in the community
conversation about local food insecurity. Hagen said speaking with Coffey helped him set
aside the shame of being poor and examine the issue in all its nuances and myths.
Theres this public perception that people who get food assistance all just sit around
watching Oprah, eating chocolates and waiting for the check to come in, Hagen said. Its
everyday people that this food insecurity affects, everyday. And without help and a plan to
get out of it, it doesnt go away.
The shadows of stigma
On a typical Thursday morning at Eau Claires Community Table, a dozen volunteers shuck
corn, butter bread, pour milk and dish chicken stir fry onto the trays of local residents. Just
like every other day of the year, the meal is hot, free, and served on a no-questions-asked
basis.

Rachel Keniston, director of The Community Table of Eau Claire, in her office.
Keniston understands that hunger truly doesn't discriminate. She makes tackling
the stigma surrounding poverty and hunger an important part of her mission.
Less than a mile away from The Community Table is Longfellow Elementary, where nearly
80 percent of students qualify for free or reduced cost meals. Community Table director
Rachel Keniston said they have partnered with Longfellow for meal events, but have trouble
getting families in the door.
We always invite the parents to eat and give them a little card that says theres a meal
here, Keniston said. They say, Oh we dont need this. They are what we call the working
poorthey are very proud.
Although its one of the most basic human needs, the shame and frustration associated with
hunger can be difficult to overcome.
Prior to the interview for this story, Beutel had never voiced the debilitating consequences
of food insecurity. Friends, co-workers, even her roommates remain oblivious to her
perpetual state of hunger.
I dont want to ask other people for help because its a pride issue, Beutel said. What kind
of person goes to a food pantry? Someone who needs help. I dont want to rely on others to
feed me well.
For thousands of students like Beutel, the idea of requesting helpeven in desperate
timescan be daunting. But as Canales explains, hunger is a shared public health crisis, not
a punishment for the few.
There is a huge stigma around asking for food, and that makes it really challenging,
Canales said. At a national level, the rhetoric around people who are lazy, who are stupid,
who dont know how to eatagain its all about the individual. Its not looking at the
policies that we have in place.
Long blinded to the notion that students are at risk of hunger, colleges across the nation
have begun implementing campus food pantries. UW-Eau Claire has recognized the need as
well, and plans to start a donation-based food pantry by the fall.

Volunteers shuck corn at The Community Table of Eau Claire, a non-profit
organization that serves one hot, free meal every day of the year to anyone who
walks through its doors.
The decision came in response to complaints of food insecurity among nontraditional, single
parent, and veteran students. Located in Schofield Hall, students will be asked to present a
valid Blugold ID in exchange for supplemental groceries free of charge.
As resources, both the UW-Eau Claire pantry and The Community Table have made it a
mission to tackle the issue using the very same principle which causes it: Hunger does not
discriminate, and neither do they. Old or young, hidden or visible, micro or macro, hunger
exists, explains Keniston, and ending it is a priority for everyone.
This is my community, and my community contains all kinds of people. Keniston said.
This is us, it's not those people.