Food insecurity and volunteerism in a college town: Social capital in a Stillwater food and resource center

Abstract

This report was done to help Our Daily Bread (ODB), a Food and Resource Center (FRC) in Stillwater, OK, understand their volunteer demographics. This Food and Resource Center was started to help serve Payne County and offers the opportunity for people to volunteer their time to meet the needs of the food insecure in their community. ODB opened in September, 2017, and is in the middle of a town primarily catered to the students of Oklahoma State University (OSU). The survey associated with this project was created to gain an understanding of what role college students play in the running of this FRC, and how ODB can better recruit and manage volunteers in the future. This research report critically examines the survey's responses, summarizes the volunteer's demographics, makes recommendations to ODB, and explains how volunteerism within the FRC relates to social capital.