Chris is boiling the electric kettle to make a cup of tea. He's a student here at Ventura College and is using their Basic Needs Center, which has been set up to help the increasing number of students - like Chris - who are facing food insecurity.
"I live in my truck between this and, you know, EBT and all that, I just eat what I can without having to be able to cook. So this place is huge, you know, makes a huge difference," said Chris.
The pantry serves almost 200 students each day who can come here to pick up a snack, groceries or hygiene products.
"Fruits, vegetables, canned goods, pastas, rice, beans - and then we also have a lot of breads and many refrigerated items that students are able to take," explained Alma Rodriguez, who runs the center.
"We have freezer items where they can also warm up meals or get snacks. And then we provide them also with all of their school supplies and their hygiene products, basically anything that a student needs to be successful in school," said Rodriguez.
"The figures have grown and hunger and food insecurities, housing insecurities - two out of every three students that attends a California community college are facing one of these insecurities," said Rodriguez.
The shelves here start the week full, but by the end of the week are almost empty. So students at a nearby school, St Bonaventure, wanted to help. Henry Cooper is one of the students.
"It's really great to see people actually utilizing it and they could say no, but they could also come and use the help that we're giving them. And it's really great to see, like there's a steady flow of people coming through here," said Cooper.
About 55% of the college's student population is classified as extremely low income or low income. The executive director of the Ventura College Foundation, Anne Paul King, says that reducing food insecurity is critical to the success of students at the college and that benefits the community as a whole.
"We believe that education is the way in which our students can achieve their dreams. Every student has their own story. You know, all of these students feel like somebody needs more than I do. But if you listen to each individual story, sometimes it's just heart shattering. The burdens that these students are carrying on behalf of their families and sometimes they're foster youth and they're on their own," explained King.
"We have 70 students who are full time homeless students and sleep in their cars at night. There's a direct relationship to persistence, a direct relationship to increased graduation rates. We know that, and that's just critical for our community. The economy of our county relies on these students staying here and thriving and getting through their education," she said.
And for students like Chris who are living in that car, it's a critical piece of support on the steps towards self-sufficiency.
"You do what you got to do to finish school," said Chris.
