Employees from Wrangler/Kontoor made a large donation of canned and other non-perishable food items to the Seminole State College Food Pantry recently.

Members of the company’s Distribution Center Activities Committee organized the canned food drives for the SSC Food Pantry and Seminole’s community Interfaith Food Pantry. Additionally, the group participated in a Christmas toy drive and in an effort to assist local nursing home residents.

Wrangler/Kontoor’s donation to SSC, alongside many other community donations last year, allowed the campus to help 228 households and 516 individuals with food insecurity issues in 2020.

In order to sustain the availability of food for students, SSC partnered with the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma and opened the pantry in the fall of 2019. In the five-county area SSC primarily serves, food insecurity rates range from 14 to 19 percent. On a national level, 44 percent of students have skipped or cut the size of their meals, and 20 percent of students did not eat for a whole day due to a lack of funds for food.

Community members are also welcome to help support the pantry with food or monetary donations. Most needed food items include anything high in protein, such as canned chicken, tuna or beef stew, chili, nuts and peanut butter.

Other needs include canned fruit and vegetables, granola bars, cereal, pasta/rice and sauce, juice boxes and self-stable milk products. All items must be nonperishable. If you are interested in giving to the SSC food pantry contact Dr. Bill Knowles via email at b.knowles@sscok.edu or by calling (405) 382-9272.