Staff Spotlight: Holly Hussey
Holly Hussey wasn't fully aware of the challenges college students faced when she went to work at the Gather Café located at Great Bay Community College at Pease. In the year and a half since, she has learned that, like many people in our Seacoast communities, students are facing unprecedented hunger and food insecurity.
“Students are an underserved population; they don’t know where to go to ask for help. They don’t know help is there,” Holly says. “I’ve seen the rising prices at the grocery store. I know people are looking for extra help.”
Fortunately, students can find that help at Gather Café which offers delicious and nutritious meals at half price for all students.
“A lot of students are older, starting a new career. It’s a struggle to be able to juggle school with everything else,” says Holly “I can skip a meal and be okay. I can eat what I have, but that’s not always the case with students.”
Holly, who estimates that 60-70 percent of students use the café daily continues, "We [serve] a hot meal once a day – it might be the only hot meal students have access to that day.”
Gather Café also has a meal program that is free to students who are struggling to pay for lunch even at reduced student prices.
“We never turn anyone anyway. We try to make everything as affordable as possible,” Holly says, noting that students are also given information on Gather’s food pantry on West Road and the mobile markets available.
Holly is involved with Seacoast Moms, an online collaboration of Seacoast mothers. Before joining Gather, she worked to promote a canned food drive and a community refrigerator created in Stratham. She now also shares information about Gather with this group.
“A lot of people don’t know Gather exists – they don’t know how get access to food. We’re here to help educate people about the possibilities,” she says. “A lot of students are in their 40s and 50s but there are a lot of teenagers who have no idea where to start. It doesn’t matter if you’re eighteen years old. Hunger is hunger.”