MATC students take home free groceries thanks to event focused on food insecurity
MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) — Students from Milwaukee Area Technical College (MATC) were given the opportunity to go grocery shopping for free on Monday.
FAST Fund, an economic emergency fund for MATC students, partnered with Sherman Park Grocery Store to allow students to fill up carts with food, produce, and toiletries.
Each student was able to take home up to $100 worth of items, with the fund expecting to give out more than $8,500 worth of groceries.
It's a need that the fund's executive director, Bria Burris, has seen up close.
"There was definitely a significant increase in our applications regarding food support," Burris said.
Since July 2025, FAST Fund has provided $46,000 worth of food support to MATC students.
"There is a food apartheid here on the north side, and college students are at the brink of that," Burris explained. "This is our next workforce that we're helping to stay enrolled and get into careers."
According to Burris, the average age of MATC students is 29 to 34, with many supporting families while getting their education, sometimes with little to no income.
"It's very hard trying to find hours to work around my career and my parenting at home," said Rosalyn Williams, who is studying early childhood education at MATC.
"I just spoke to a student here who is in clinicals in nursing - that's a full-time job for MATC students," Burris said. "So, that means she's not working while going to school."
FAST Fund aims to fulfill students' basic needs as they complete their education.
"I was able to get milk, I was able to get chicken strips, I was able to get toiletries," said Jermenna Luttrell, a community health and nutrition student at MATC. "I'm very appreciative."
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