During National Hunger Action Month, leaders of Hudson County Community College and DoorDash are highlighting the importance of community partnerships that ensure community college students can obtain the food they need so they can focus on their studies.
In an op-ed published Monday in NJ.com, interim HCCC President Lisa Dougherty and DoorDash Head of Global Food Access Daniel Riff, wrote that reliable access to food is “inseparable from the opportunity to learn.”
HCCC operates food pantries on its Journal Square and North Hudson campuses, which recorded 5,4442 visits in 2025. Social workers helped students identify on-campus and community resources and apply for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits.
Last winter, when disruptions to federal SNAP benefits left some students uncertain as to where their next meal would come from, DoorDash donated $2,000 through its Community Credits Programs, in the form of gift cards, to HCCC students facing food insecurity.
“Partnerships like this are needed not only during moments of crisis. Through Project DASH, DoorDash works with food banks, pantries and health systems to provide last-mile delivery services that help organizations reach neighbors in need,” Dougherty and Riff wrote.
Since 2018, Project DASH has powered deliveries of an estimated 150 million meals across the United States and Canada through partnerships with more than 300 organizations.
“During Hunger Action Month, we hope others will join us in the fight against hunger in New Jersey. Every student deserves to focus on an education, not their next meal,” Dougherty and Riff wrote.
To read the entire op-ed in NJ.com, go here.
