Concept Story 

Abby has access to food for herself and her two-year-old daughter. This relieves her 
stress and anxiety as she works her way through her business degree at Arizona State 
University. She is looking forward to graduating after using the tools provided through 
“ASU’s Health Services’ Food Locator” to ensure that she and her daughter will never go 
hungry.  

This has not always been true, Abby being a single mother rarely has enough money to 
cover all of her expenses. Sometimes it becomes a choice between daycare and 
housing or food for the month. She is working hard to support her little family but as she 
works full-time at Starbucks and goes to school full-time she does not always make 
ends meet. She wants to graduate and get a better paying job in her field so that she 
can provide a stable income for her and her daughter..  

Luckily, ASU recently added “ASU Health Services’ Food Locator” for students like Abby. 
Providing a tool for the food insecure to locate food assistance. Until recently, ASU did 
not have easy access to information for online students to access. This left many, like 
Abby, who live out-of-state with a difficult time using ASU as a tool of support.  

The lacking support from ASU may have already turned Abby away. She was desperate 
and without support she could be left feeling defeated and depressed. If Abby doesn’t 
receive assistance she will likely neglect her studies, or worse - drop out of school. Abby 
may also feel embarrassed about her predicament and she may not want to ask for the 
help that she desperately needs. This could, in turn, affect her education as her mind 
may be on how to get her daughter access to food. 

Abby isn’t comfortable asking for assistance. She is put at ease when she visits “ASU’s 
Health Services’ Food Locator” landing page and sees a testimonial from a single 
mother that has been helped by the resource. She’s not alone and she realizes that ASU 
has been able to help this mother and she encouraged to follow-through with the 
search. 

Because ASU introduced “Health Services’ Food Locator” Abby is able to find a location 
near her through a zip code search. She is even able to contact them ahead of time to 
ask questions because of the link to the Food Banks website. She is so relieved that 
there is a way for her to provide for her family in times of need. Abby is able to find that 
Colorado has a food bank only a few blocks away. She can even use public 
transportation to get there! 

 
User Story 

Abby is a 31-year-old, single mother from Denver, Colorado. She works full time at
Starbucks as well as pursues an online education through Arizona State University.
Abby works hard to support her little family but she does not always make ends meet.

As a single mother Abby rarely has enough money to cover all her expenses.
Sometimes it becomes a choice between daycare, housing, or food for the month. She
is very prideful and although she has resources around her such as work benefits, other
family and friends she is embarrassed to be constantly reaching out for help. She
searches for a resource she can use on her own.

Abby has heard that many colleges help with food insecurity. She goes to the ASU
Health Services site to learn if ASU offers this kind of assistance. Being an out of state
student means she won’t be able to access the local resources the university already
has in place for their students.

Once Abby gets to the ASU Health Services page, she is happily greeted with a large
button link that says, “ASU Health Services’ Food Locator- find food assistance near
you.” Once she clicks the link she is directed to a page where it asks for her to enter her
zip code and was able to search “within 20 miles” of her location. Once she clicks this
page, she can see all the resources she is able to access and links with more
information about the location.

She is surprised that she had not used this tool earlier, it provided a way to find
information without the added embarrassment. It could have saved her paying late fees
and the exhaustion from taking extra hours at work.

Using this information, ASU is going to require professors to add a brief paragraph into
their syllabus’ regarding food (in)security with a link to the food locator. This will make it
so every out of state online student is aware the university is able to help.

Being able to find her own resources to food, Abby feels less stressed and more
confident in her future. She is happy she doesn’t have to reach out to her job, family,
and friends to ask for help and instead discreetly find her own assistance. Abby also
feels more positive about her experience at ASU knowing with the support of her
university, she’ll be able to get through this tough time.