The Surry Community College Business and Technologies Division held a food drive to support SCC’s Little Free Food Pantry. Over the course of approximately a week and a half, 205 items were collected across the Dobson campus.
Students in Marsha Underwood’s Entrepreneurship (BUS-139) course used the food drive to set up a mock storefront in their classroom. Students began the planning process earlier in the semester. They participated in meetings during class to ensure that all the best practices had been considered and implemented.
Students worked in teams to complete all the procedures of setting up a new retail store such as organizing the donated items and taking inventory. A safety team monitored the collection and set up to ensure the area was as safe as possible. Other groups of students designed the store space, configuration, and signage, while others provided customer support, check out support, and door greetings. Once the project was completed, they packed up their ‘inventory’ and delivered it to Kennette Lawrence Thomas, SCC English Instructor and sponsor of the Little Free Food Pantry.
Underwood comments, “This hands-on exercise gave our Entrepreneurship students a chance to apply classroom concepts in a real-world setting. By organizing a mock storefront for the Little Free Food Pantry, they not only practiced retail operations, logistics, inventory management and customer service, but also contributed meaningfully to our campus community.”
In order to effectively simulate a shopping environment, faculty and staff were invited to ‘shop’ at the store, critiquing the store’s performance after their visit. The shoppers included Melinda Shew, Business Administration Instructor; Kim White, Division Chair of Business and Information Technologies; and Dr. Dawn Hawks, Lead Instructor of Accounting and Business Administration.
The Little Free Food Pantry provides food and supplies to anyone on campus or in the community needing assistance. It is a cabinet placed outside on the college’s Dobson campus, in an accessible but discreet location near the SCC Library and tennis courts. It contains pre-packaged meals, canned goods, diapers, hygiene products, face masks, and other donated items. Students, faculty, staff, and community members are welcome to take what they need and donate what they can.
Spring registration is currently underway at Surry Community College. For help with college application, class registration, or financial aid, contact Student Services at (336) 386-3264 or studentservices@surry.edu. Classes begin January 9, 2026. The deadline to register is January 5, 2026.
