TMt. Hood Community College student Jason Fergoson sat eating his chicken strips in the crowded Vista Dining Center. He does not frequent Vista but goes “every now and then,” he said. He said that the prices for food at Vista are somewhat high, but doesn’t seem to mind. Asked if he knew of a place on campus were he could get free food, he said, “Free food? I don’t know of a place.”

There, is in fact, a place on campus where students can go and get free food. The Food Exchange is a program where students can go get free food or to donate food to the program. “Anybody can come in, anybody can donate,” said ASG Director of Community Affairs Jennifer Melberg. So far, the program is open every Wednesday from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. and there is a limit of eight food items per person.

The Food Exchange has been on campus for seven years and has also been known as Barney’s Kitchen and The Giving Center. Before Melberg gained charge of the program, Jose Vasquez was in charge of it. Vasquez has since resigned as director of community affairs, but still works with Melberg to lead the program.

The Food Exchange is located in a secluded part of the College Center just south of the SAG offices. “It’s just kind of like a fluorescent cave right now,” said Melberg. “Once we get through night reception and all of that, I’m going to have more space freed up and try to make this more comfortable to come into.”

In addition to more space, Melberg would like to see the program open on a more frequent basis. “One of the options we’re looking at is to have it open to whoever needs it at the time,” she said.

“They can come to the front desk and ask for assistance and somebody can come and assist them and they can go back and get food and then go. It doesn’t need to be limited to one day a week.”

One of the reasons Melberg says the program has fizzled out in the past is because of the lack of publicity. “The word hasn’t spread at all and nobody really knows about it,” she said. “When they find out about it, they’re surprised.” She hopes to remedy that by holding awareness events. “What I’m going to try to do is do a kick-off on like a Thursday or something,” she said. “We’ll have a band, we’ll have something that will draw student attention. We’re going to try to make the drives really fun.” Albertsons has donated a shopping cart to the program which Melberg plans to use as a “mascot.”

She also plans to get the word out by putting donation bins around campus. “I’m putting boxes in departments,” she said. “I started with the funeral department because that’s the program I’m in. They were very receptive. So I’m going to try to put boxes wherever I can for people to donate.”

Another program Melberg is working on is the Book Block book exchange. Book Block is a program where students could buy and sell books in a fashion similar to eBay. “As soon as I get the proper amount of energy into this and feel like we’re in a good spot, I’m going to be working on [Book Block] and getting that up and rolling,” she said.

Students don’t have to go directly to the College Center to take advantage of either program if they can’t find transportation or feel uncomfortable going. “In that case, they would need to contact me and we’ll do whatever we can for them,” said Melberg. She can be reached in the ASG offices in the College Center or at (503) 491-3518.