(ROSENBERG, Texas) – Tearing down barriers is Larissa Moreno’s goal for the students at Texas State Technical College.
The Advocacy and Resource Center lead for the Fort Bend County campus, she has worked over the past few years to set up a food market in collaboration with the Houston Food Bank. Now that the food market is up and running, she has set her sights on furthering its reach.
“I wanted to find a sustainable solution for our students who can’t visit the market during its operating hours,” Moreno said.
To do that, she looked toward reaching night students. While the market is open during the day, there is not enough staff to make sure that it remains open during the evening hours. The solution came in the form of storage lockers that would let students pick up the food they needed when they could.
She ended up working with Smart Lockers, a company that specializes in automating the exchange of physical goods. With their lockers, students are given a personal code, can “shop” online, and then, using their code, log in to pick up the food they ordered.
Fernando Calvo, founder and CEO of Smart Lockers, personally came to deliver the storage lockers.
“I have a passion for philanthropy and providing something that I have to those in need,” Calvo said. “I appreciate the opportunity to help the students at TSTC.”
There is currently an eight-door unit for perishable goods, as well as a 13-door console unit for dry goods and other deliveries. The whole system is expandable to meet future demand.
“I think I saw around 30 students in the food market in just one day last week,” Moreno said. “Through this we are not only helping our students, but their families as well.”
For more information on TSTC, go to tstc.edu.