With a desire to help meet community needs, Lone Star College-CyFair recently provided relief in the form of a food donation for school children and Cy-Fair area families in partnership with Cy-Hope.

Prior to COVID,  LSC-CyFair helped feed college students through "Food for Thought" Food Pantry, one of the resources of the college’s faculty-driven initiatives,  The Empowerment Center. Although the pantry is currently closed, LSC-CyFair employees loaded up a van with a pantry donation for Cy-Hope.

“We recently donated our pantry’s non-perishable items to Cy-Hope's Backpack Buddy Program, which provides a backpack of food for economically disadvantaged children in the Cy-Fair school district to feed their family for a weekend," said Kathryn Killinger, part-time center coordinator.

Last year 515 college students received assistance through The Empowerment Center. Now the center’s food pantry can help approximately 1,500 children in the Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District through Cy-Hope’s backpack program. 

“We are grateful for the opportunity to partner with Cy-Hope to help support our community during these challenging times," said LSC-CyFair President Dr. Seelpa Keshvala.

In addition to the recent food donation, LSC-CyFair has been serving as a host site for Cy-Hope’s weekly food distribution effort with the Houston Food Bank since July 17.

The goal was to distribute 1,500 meals, approximately 40-60 pounds of food (a box of nonperishable food, a box of produce, meat and then usually juice or milk) per vehicle, to Cy-Fair community members.

For information or to volunteer for next distribution day Aug. 14, call 713.466.4673 or email cy-hope@cy-hope.org.

Registration is underway for fall online and hybrid classes. For information, go to LoneStar.edu/CyFairfall.