Knox County Community Gardens and Growers Alliance members got an up-close look at two programs quietly combating food insecurity on Pellissippi State Community College’s Hardin Valley campus, a campus garden and a multi-site food pantry that have been operating since 2016.
At the Alliance’s June monthly membership meeting, held at the Hardin Valley campus, Catherine Schiller, the college’s Garden Specialist, and Sandra Davis-Bullis, Student Care and Advocacy Specialist, led members through a tour of both the campus garden and the Pellissippi Pantry.
The Hardin Valley Campus Garden launched a decade ago on just 803 square feet tucked behind portable buildings near the Student Recreation Center, producing roughly 1,190 pounds of food in its first year. Today it functions as a fresh food supplier, a living classroom, and a community service hub. Most of what it yields goes directly to the Pellissippi Pantry, which provides a three-to-five-day emergency food supply to students and their household members across all four Pellissippi State campuses.
The pantry serves students at the Hardin Valley, Magnolia, Strawberry Plains, and Blount County campuses. A new walk-in format at the Hardin Valley location now lets participants select their own items rather than receive pre-packed bags, using a points system scaled to household size. Students at the Magnolia and Strawberry Plains campuses can place orders through the same points system, with packed orders delivered to their sites on the first and third Wednesday of each month. Hygiene products, household supplies, and rotating “surprise me” food items are distributed when available.
The Alliance thanks Catherine Schiller and Sandra Davis-Bullis for their time and for the work they continue to contribute to the health and needs of the students, staff, and faculty at Pellissippi State.
