The Hawk CARES Program held a CARE Fest on Tuesday in the quad with food, games and music, highlighting the different campus and community resources.

Roughly 20 different tables of resources and Drewski’s food truck lined half of the quad’s perimeter as they handed out gifts such as tumblers, backpacks, pens and stickers. Some tables provided Narcan, banking assistance, employment assistance and more. Narcan is treatment for a narcotic overdose.

Student Support Assistant Jonathan Leong said he is a former CRC student and he helped found the housing program. He said the food pantry program was created by students in 2015 and has only grown since then.

“The mission of this event is to promote resources for students in terms of basic needs help, Basic needs assistance, right?” Leong said. “What do we think of when we think of basic needs? Well, there’s really big essentials with things like food, housing, clothing, even financial wellness.”

Leong said the purpose of Hawk CARES is to promote services to students and provide help to those in need. He said it may not be a permanent fix, but it’s a great starting point for students looking for any kind of assistance.

Leong said this event is a community partnership because the campus could not provide plentiful resources without their assistance.

“The whole purpose isn’t really for numbers and metrics,” Leong said. “This is just for students and there really isn’t too much of an expense for this event.”

Students asked questions, engaging with community partners and campus programs. Over the course of an hour, almost every table had at least three students gathered around the presenter and some students visited multiple tables.

“I’ve been looking for a job and there were a lot of stands that had jobs in preschools and stuff, which is what I wanted,” 18-year-old elementary education major Nataly Torres said.

Torres said she found a total of three jobs to apply to and she had a lot of fun spinning wheels for prizes while learning about resources Cosumnes River College offers.

Tatiana Sandoval, a 19-year-old biology major, said she didn’t know about the food pantry or professional clothing programs offered by Hawks CARES until she attended the event. She said she also didn’t know the event was happening until she walked out of her class.

Sandoval said she would like to receive notifications about campus events in her Canvas Inbox, because she checks it regularly.

The next Hawk CARES event is on Monday and will be a financial aid workshop aiming to help students with their applications.

Leong said student engagement is important on community college campuses.
“For me, the way I see it is more of a quality versus quantity experience, right?” Leong said.