Pantry fills niche for hungry students

LOGAN, Utah – One day last semester at Utah State University, a
nontraditional student contacted Jordan Hunt, the executive
assistant to the Associated Students of USU.

The woman told the student she was “scared” about her financial
situation, being able to put food on the table while going to
classes, working and paying the bills for her apartment.

The solution for her was the Student Nutrition Access Center
Pantry, known as SNAC – a resource for USU students who don’t have
kids.

“She wanted to know if she ran into a hard time … could she rely
on the food pantry,” Hunt said. “So even though she wasn’t using it
that day, it was a comfort for her to know that the resource was
there.”

The students who run the pantry say they recognize the current
economic downturn has negatively impacted students’ lives – from
preventing some from being able to pay tuition, to not being able
to put food on the table.

“It’s really hard to find a job in Logan,” Milligan said. “It’s
hard to find a job as a student because there are so many
students.”

USU isn’t the only school starting up a food pantry. According to a
recent report from National Public Radio, university-run food
pantries have been popping up on campuses across the country since
the recession began.

And the latest U.S. Census information from 2010 might add to
reasons for starting up a food pantry: Poverty among children and
among 18- to 24-year-olds has skyrocketed over the past decade, as
nearly 22 percent of all young adults have incomes below the
poverty level.

Boxes of Rice Chex, Campbell’s chicken noodle and tomato soups,
oatmeal, personal hygiene items and other products sit on the
shelves of the SNAC Pantry, ready for students to pick up. To
qualify, all they need is to do is give the pantry their name and
student ID – and not have any children. Those with children are
asked to go to the Cache Community Food Pantry in Logan.

“It’s kind of run on integrity,” said Madison Milligan, the
pantry’s director. “If you feel like you need service, we trust
that.”

The SNAC Pantry, created in part due to a grant by the Val R.
Christiansen Service Center, is an extension of the Cache Community
Food Pantry in Logan.

Hunt, the founder of the SNAC Pantry, said it was created to “fill
that gap” by the Cache Community Food Pantry, which excludes
students without kids.

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The pantry opened Feb. 1, 2010, after members
of the ASUSU looked at a food pantry program at Southern Utah
University.

“SUU was really excited to help us out. They provided us a lot of
information about how they run on a day-to-day operation,” Hunt
said. “It kind of helped us solve some of our problems when we set
the SNAC Pantry up.”

The Christiansen Service Center made sure when setting up the SNAC
that it was not “easily abused,” and so, Hunt said, “we decided to
take a more secure approach by asking for their name and ID
number.”

Since August 2011, the SNAC Pantry has seen 77 students use the
service. Over the course of that time, it has had 197 visits,
Milligan said.

Each student gets a grocery bag’s worth of food.

Today, the food pantry is funded through groups that do food or
fund drives, Hunt said.

“It’s remarkable to see the program today because it’s entirely
student-run,” Hunt said. “Just to see students coming in and using
it makes me happy. … It started small; now it blows my
mind.”

He said he’s not surprised that more universities around the
country are creating a food pantry for students.

“Part of it is the localization of service,” Hunt said. “For a long
time, service has been thought of as doing something international.
I think it’s starting to become: What can you do in your community?
Universities are well-known, tight-knit communities, especially
Utah State University. It’s not a surprise they (food pantries) are
becoming popular because the trend of service is to look more
toward your local organization.”

 

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