One year later, Student Food Pantry establishes itself as campus resource
Since it's inception in the fall of 2018, the Student Food Pantry has been helping to fill the empty snack shelves and mini-fridges of anyone who takes classes at Central Michigan University.
As of their latest distribution on Nov. 15, the food pantry has been visited 905 times serving 384 students.
The idea for a student food pantry was launched by a cross-campus committee under former CMU President George Ross.
Dexter graduate assistant Kourtney Koch was brought onto the project in August 2018 and has been spearheading its efforts ever since.
"The concept of being a broke college student is kind of normalized across the country, meaning not having a lot of money or eating ramen noodles every night," Koch said. "We're trying to break down the stigma and normalization of that."
In the food panty's infancy, Koch and her team of volunteers coordinated two distribution days during the Fall 2018 semester. In the spring they were able to open the food pantry for two days every other week.
Now, the food pantry is open for three days every week.
"Part of what I was focused on last year was education. I was looking at what other universities do across the country," Koch said. "I realized to be more accessible to students on campus we need to be open more hours."
The food pantry is open to all students who take classes at CMU. No one needs to show proof of financial hardship or food scarcity to access the resource.
"We have students with meal plans who come for a little supplemental food, we have students who come once or twice a semester when they're in between paychecks and we have students who come every week," Koch said.
The food pantry works closely with The Greater Lansing Food Bank. As a partner organization, Greater Lansing helped to design the facility, order food and train student volunteers.
Food is obtained mostly through donations and special events like "Food for Fines," a collaborative effort between CMU Police Department and the Student Food Pantry that allows students to pay off parking ticket fees by donating non-perishable food items.
The Student Food Pantry is always accepting food donations. Any student wanting to make a donation can deliver items to the Mary Ellen Brandell Volunteer Center between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
The food pantry is open on Tuesdays from 5-7 p.m., on Wednesdays from 3-5 p.m. and on Fridays noon to 2 p.m.
Students can set up appointments by emailing foodpantry@cmich.edu if the hours do not work with their schedules.
Even though Koch plans to graduate in May, she expects the food pantry to thrive beyond her years at CMU.
"I envision more staff dedicated to the food pantry so we can be open like a typical office. That just means more accessibility to students," Koch said. "I'd like to see more education about food insecurity across campus and its connection to other social issues. Every student at CMU should know that this resource is available to them."
