AKRON/CANTON, Ohio– More than 40 million people in the U.S. struggle with hunger.  There's a lack of access to fresh, affordable food for people all across the country.

In Southeast Canton, it's no different.

Spectrum News 1 takes a look at how one non-profit organization and a group of students from the University of Akron are working together to change that.

On the Southeast side of Canton, it's a food desert.

"There's a gas station down the road, and that's the only thing down here, and if you're lucky to get one of the few gallons of milk they still have it's between $5 and $7 dollars," says Tom Phillips, Executive Director of StarkFresh, a non-profit.

People who live here have no access to fresh or affordable food.  The closest grocery store in this area of the city is a ten-mile walk or a long bus ride.

"Public transportation- it's here, but it might take two and a half hours to get to the supermarket and back. So this area that has nothing right now needs a kick start," says Phillips.

Twenty-seven miles north, is the University of Akron.

Construction engineering students are using their hands to help this neighborhood in desperate need.  They're volunteering their time, renovating this building, the future home of a supermarket.

"You know that the work that you're doing on a Saturday is helping to provide food for people that maybe don't have access to it," says Chris Williams, University of Akron, Construction Engineering Technology student.

Students started demolition work inside the vacant building.  Removing lighting fixtures and stripping walls and drywall, is a small but much-needed improvement.  A number of Air Force Junior ROTC cadets from Buchtel High School also assisted with the demolition.

Students will return in April to help get this grocery store up and running.

"You get to go out and help them and take what you've learned from your classes and take it, apply everything you're learning for a great cause," says Jacob Sanner, University of Akron, Construction Engineering Technology student.

The supermarket is expected to open by the end of the next year.  And while the students will come and go, they'll forever be connected with a neighborhood that will soon go from a food desert, to a food oasis.

"It's the best part of the job, it's the best part of what we do, students will long, long since remember these activities, they won't remember classes, they won't remember projects, but they'll remember times they got to connect with a community," says Craig Wise, Associate Professor of Construction Engineering Technology at the University of Akron.