 Bemidji State University is helping students who can't afford meals by placing pop-up food shelves around campus. Reporter Cheryl Moore has more on the initiative. Bemidji State University has found a simple way to address hunger on campus. Faculty and staff and students are all very, very excited about this and are contributing and we are thrilled. The pop-up food shelves have been placed around campus. Anyone can contribute and then students take whatever it is they need. It's addressing a problem that many people may not know exist. The literature is pretty straightforward in that nationwide the number of students that feel insecure about their next meal is anywhere between 20 and 60 percent. That's an astounding number and it horrified me. The success of a student hinges greatly on whether or not they can function and that requires feeling nourished. The boxes work best because they're discreet so there's no need for students to feel embarrassed. The idea of going to a food shelf holds a certain social stigma so these pop-up food shelves work beautifully. They're just these little boxes tucked around and students can discreetly help themselves to something that they might need. Right now there are 12 pop-up food shelves on campus but BSU is planning on putting them in every building and in the future they may even add other food items to the list. Personally I would like to see work in collaboration with our food service provider on campus in hopes of potentially providing opportunities for getting meal kits into the hands of students as well. As we move into the future I would love to see the pop-up food shelf everywhere throughout campus and even the community of Bemidji. There's no reason for anyone to go hungry in our community. Reporting in Bemidji, Shawmore, Lakeland News. If you enjoyed this segment of Lakeland News please consider making a tax-deductible contribution to Lakeland PBS.