HANCEVILLE, Ala. – Wallace State Cares is helping bridge the gap for students in need.
Wallace State Cares Director Christine Wiggins said the efforts are funded by a five-year Department of Education Title III grant received in 2021 designed to provide holistic support to students.
“Efforts to support students in this way at WSCC have a long history and have existed in pockets across campus for years,” Wiggins said. “Additionally, in 2020 the college decided to focus support efforts and became a designated Caring Campus through the Institute for Evidence-based Change who provides training and support for our employees to ‘ensure that faculty and staff are equipped with strategies and principles that cultivate a community where all students feel valued and seen, increasing success for students across all demographics.’”
Wiggins said Wallace State Cares supports any and all enrolled students.
“Under the umbrella of WSCC Cares, the college is able to provide students with dedicated staff and resources to address the challenges that come with being a college student AND living life,” Wiggins said. “Whatever that challenge may be — transportation, healthcare, food insecurity, mental or physical health needs — the Wallace State Cares staff works with the student to brainstorm solutions and access resources on campus or within their community in an effort to meet basic needs, reduce stress and make being in class and learning more likely.”
In addition to free mental health counseling, a work wardrobe, a laptop loan program, a mother’s lounge and a Veterans’ Corner, the most popular Cares resource is Lions’ Kitchen, the student food pantry.
“It officially launched in 2018. Lions’ Kitchen came under my direction as part of the WSCC Cares initiative in 2022,” Wiggins said. “Since then it has undergone some changes, including the establishment of regular hours for consistency, dedicated staff and the utilization of a pantry software to track traffic, inventory and donations. Lions’ Kitchen went from 50 visits a year in 2018 to 235 just since the start of this semester (eight weeks). We attribute the yearly increase to the unwavering support of our instructors and staff who regularly refer students to the pantry, the rising cost of groceries, marketing the pantry as ‘for everyone’ and it being a client-choice pantry, plus the dedicated pantry manager who makes every student feel valued and known.”
Wallace State Cares staff can often be found supporting the students at their sporting events and performances, at pinnings/graduation and following up regularly to see how they can be of support, Wiggins shared.
“We know that statistically if a student has one need they likely have at least three more, so building relationships wherever we encounter students is integral to them feeling comfortable in telling us what’s going on in their lives,” Wiggins said. “Lions’ Kitchen is located in the Gudger Student Center. If a student is in need outside of these hours, we are happy to meet them at the pantry to serve them. The Lions’ Kitchen exists because the community is involved. We currently receive an annual financial donation from the Lions Club of Hanceville; we get regular food donations from several local churches and individuals; many of our employees at WSCC use payroll deduction to give monthly; campus clubs and organizations host food drives and have fundraising events for the pantry; and we have giving boxes located around campus.”
Wiggins shared that the Lions’ Kitchen is a United Way partner agency, so it receives a monthly allocation from the United Way, and the Lions’ Kitchen regularly partners with Cullman Caring for Kids, another United Way partner agency, which brings its mobile pantry to campus once a month to serve students.
“In 2024, we received a grant from Auburn University’s Hunger Solutions Institute (HSI) that has been a tremendous help in allowing us to expand our services beyond the physical pantry,” Wiggins said. “We utilize those funds to stock snack baskets in the Freshman Seminar classroom, pack to-go boxes for the library, which has extended hours and thereby may be serving students who can’t make it to the pantry, as well as a weekend meal kit initiative we’ve just launched for our dorm residents. And while we are thankful for these resources and generous donors, we are ever aware of the increasing need and prevalence of food insecurity amongst our rural college students. A survey conducted by HSI for WSCC from 2023 indicated that 47% of the respondents were food insecure as defined by USDA.”
The group is always appreciative of donations and Wiggins said a Lions’ Kitchen shopping cart is kept in the lobby of the James Bailey Center for anyone to drop off food donations.
“Our most popular items are canned pasta (ravioli, SpaghettiOs), tuna pouches, ramen noodles, spaghetti noodles/sauce, soups, Pop-Tarts, granola bars and snack crackers,” Wiggins said. “We are always happy to come and pick up donations collected by groups or organizations who host food drives/collections. Of course we accept monetary donations as well. We operate through the WSCC Future Foundation, which has a giving site where donors can choose Lions’ Kitchen as the recipient. We are grateful for our partnership with the Food Bank of North Alabama, where we can use those donated dollars to get food at a greatly reduced price.”
For more information, contact Christine Wiggins at 256-352-8462 or christine.wiggins@wallacestate.edu.
“I’ve worked in various roles at WSCC for over 15 years,” Wiggins said. “Helping students see beyond the immediate challenge or crisis, and to let them know that they aren’t in it alone in making a plan to meet that challenge AND stay in school — that they belong here and they matter — is the most important work I’ve done at this school. Asking for help takes courage and I love to be the one that gets to tell them they are brave and worthy of assistance.”
Donate to the Lions’ Kitchen at https://tinyurl.com/LionsKitchen.
Copyright 2025 Humble Roots, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
