By Payton Calati
Grand Rapids Community College’s only rule to access on-campus resources is that you are a current enrolled student. GRCC makes it easy for people to access needed resources so students don’t have to worry about being eligible or not for the program.
Rebecca Lubbers, student resource coordinator, says that GRCC Cares is a collection of resources.
“GRCC Cares is a network that our staff and faculty use. it’s a collection of resources that are both community focused, things nearby that students can access, as well as resources here on campus,” said Lubbers.
Get Help is connected to the main website for GRCC which has a collection of resources on campus and in the community as well that students can access.
One of the many resources we have on campus is the food pantry.
“One of our main things that we do have here, the most utilized, is the food pantry. The student food pantry is available for students who are currently enrolled in classes for the current semester,” said Lubbers. “Unlike other local community food resources places, the only eligibility check we do is that you are a currently enrolled student.”
The difference between enrolled and admitted is that enrolled students are currently in class at GRCC whereas admitted students are able to sign up for classes but are not yet taking them. After being enrolled you’re able to take up to two bags each week of the semester.
“For the food pantry for example, eligibility, your access to the food pantry starts the same week that your classes start and then that eligibility will be taken care of for future semesters if you’re still concurrently enrolled. Now, if you were enrolled in the fall and not the winter, your eligibility ends the week after your final exams or the week after in which you drop,” said Lubbers.
“Students can shop self-serve experiences and students can grab up to two bags every single week,” she said.
Another resource on campus is clothing.
“That’s by appointment basis,” Lubbers said. “It’s super easy, super quick, you just sign a quick agreement (at the Student Life office) and then we can pull any of the clothing sizes and gender cuts that you’re looking for.”
A lot of what this program does is help get what you need when you don’t quite know how to do that.
“That’s a lot about what my roll is, is meeting with students to help with that (connecting students with resources), so my bridge is the state application for assistance, there’s the state emergency relief, which can help with housing resources, there’s the food assistance through SnapBenefits, and many times people don’t realize that they are eligible for that, and we actually have a case worker for Kent County students here on campus too. We can direct labor for our students to their case worker as well. Or just helping students navigate the other processes that are already out there in the community is one of the things we do as well,” said Lubbers.
For students that are interested in getting referrals, you can reach out to Lubbers through phone or email, reach out to any faculty or staff, or gain a referral yourself through the website.
“I’m one of the main points of contact, we have a referral network for out faculty and staff, students can really go to any faculty and staff and let them know that they want to get connected to our resources and our faculty and staff are trained to be able to raise a referral than those referrals go to me and a couple other coworkers so that way we can reach directly out to students,” said Lubbers. “Other options for students if they want to raise a referral themselves our platform is called Navigate Students.”
If you use the website. Log into your account, click the icon called “raise a hand” and it will drop different resources on campus. Each classroom should also have a poster called “get help” that also has a link to all the different resources on campus.
If you are interested in volunteering for some of these resources you are able to sign up for training.
“I like to be flexible so, we do have scheduled training that is available that will be opening up for students as well, right now it’s available for faculty and staff,” said Lubbers. “When we get groups of students coming in we do back-to-back, where you have the training and the volunteer day so that way you can get that all in one go. Individual students that reach out, we schedule as needed, if they can hop in with one of the staff and faculty training sessions, I pop them into that, otherwise we schedule something one on one.”
