On-campus food pantry offers hope to hungry students

When Indiana State University student Steve Boyer, a junior, noticed many of his peers were struggling to pay for food on top of tuition and bills, he took action. After gathering some statistics on student need, Boyer helped create an on-campus food pantry, which opened Oct. 29.

Now, every Wednesday,  students in need have access to free food right on campus.

United Campus Ministries, a non-profit Christian organization for students, played a major role in the pantry’s development.

“Students were coming in hungry,” says office manager Carrie Stone, who is also an ISU sophomore. “We’d make lunch or have oatmeal packets to give them, but it just kept going on and on.”

So Stone and UCM’s minister, Reverend Sharon Smith, began working on plans for the pantry. They decided to create a space in the ministry’s basement for shelves to be stocked with food. On top of Boyer's data, Stone and Smith also researched Oregon State University's food pantry, which serves approximately 2,500 students each year, according to OSU human services resource center coordinator Clare Cady.

“Many students have told me that without our pantry they may have had to drop out of school,” Cady says.

Nancy Brattain Rogers, associate vice president of community engagement at ISU,  says the dean of students' office consistently encounters students who cannot afford food on their own.

And the statistics demonstrate the need for the food pantry, with Pell Grant recipients comprising 43% of the ISU students population. Although those with with low incomes have most of their tuition paid for, students must find their own ways to pay for other expenses — like food. Helping  students get the food they need through resources like food pantries is an investment in the  country’s future economy, according to Harvard senior lecturer and sociologist Julie Boatright Wilson

"Having a larger share of the labor force with college degrees will not only help  the country meet its changing workforce needs, but also help reduce the national poverty rate and thereby the number of people relying on income support and other social service programs,” says Wilson. "Going to class, studying and holding down part-time jobs to pay for college is demanding. We need to support them through this stage in their life.”

With the help of three student volunteers, Stone and Smith have done their best to stock the pantry. And the community has also been supportive.

Last Friday at the pantry’s open house, UCM received $20,000 from the charity group 100+ Women Who Care. One member also sits on the UCM board,  advocating for the ISU food pantry to the other women in the group.

UCM is thrilled with the donation, but continues to raise money—and awareness—for the pantry. Stone says about 25 students have visited so far.

“We’ve only been open twice,” Stone says. “We’re very new, so hopefully it’ll pick up a lot.”

This story originally appeared on the USA TODAY College blog, a news source produced for college students by student journalists. The blog closed in September of 2017.