Volunteers sort items and check the dates on donated groceries at the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank.
Credit: Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times

The window of the food pantry is in an inconspicuous location on the second floor of the student services building at East Los Angeles College, and that’s for the best. Some of the students who come here don’t want the whole campus to know they’re hungry.

“It’s really a sensitive topic for some people,” said Anthony Dominguez, a biochemistry major who sometimes works at the pantry and hands out packaged noodles, granola bars, energy drinks and other items.

After I spoke to Dominguez, I watched a student sidle up to the window and show his ID. He was handed a pouch of apple sauce and a granola bar, then walked away.

But he lingered nearby, watched me interview another pantry customer, then approached.

“It was awkward the first couple of times I came,” he said, asking me to identify him by his initials, J.C.

J.C. told me he lives in a […]