Once Shay Wilson, a pre-pharmacy student, moved into her dorm and paid her housing fee and tuition, the last thing she was going to spend money on was groceries.
Wilson, like many students at the U, supports herself. This can unfortunately mean a tight budget without much left over for other living expenses, especially food.
“During times when I get sick or can’t work, like during finals week, it becomes difficult to buy groceries,” Wilson said.
Wilson is not alone in her situation. As many as half of the students at the U are food insecure, according to a small sample study by the U’s Center for Student Wellness last year. However, at the beginning of October, students will soon have a new resource to address any needs for food with the opening of the University of Utah Food Pantry.
The Bennion Center, the Center for Student Wellness, ASUU, the Campus Bookstore and the Women’s Resource Center partnered with the Utah Food Bank to address food insecurity for U students. The pantry will be open Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Anyone with a valid student ID who fills out minimal paperwork will have access to free food. Students’ families will also be able to receive food assistance through the program.
Although the Center for Student Wellness survey stated up to 50 percent of students are food insecure, this statistic is not unique to the U. Similar studies conducted last year revealed that 30 to 40 percent of students in the U.S. are without sufficient food across college campuses.
This trend sparked the Utah Food Bank and other organizations on campus to help the U create a food bank. Some of the organizations involved have each independently explored the idea of a food pantry in the past. Yet this year the organizations pulled their independent work together to create the program.
Food pantries, in recent years, have become more common on many campuses. Several universities in Utah already have food pantries. Utah State University and Utah Valley University both have food pantry programs on their campuses that function similar to how the U Food Pantry will operate.
Kassy Keen, a health educator in the Center for Student Wellness who worked on the U Food Pantry project, said U faculty agreed it was time the U had a food pantry.
“College students have an increasing demand of financial costs on them,” Keen said. “Due to that, college students are more susceptible to not having money to pay for food.”
Food insecurity can be made worse on campus by the way students prioritize paying for college. Tuition and housing tend to be what students pay for first. Amid higher tuition costs, what is leftover can sometimes be insufficient to purchase food for many students.
In addition, with busy schedules, students have less time to buy groceries, and instead they go to fast food restaurants for a quick and relatively cheap bite to eat. Responding to this issue specifically, the U Food Pantry will focus on providing students with nutritious food alternatives.
“I don’t want students to worry where their next meal is coming from and distract from academics,” Keen said.
The U Food Pantry will not be able to provide food every day because the food pantry is currently an unfunded project. Any start-up money is from the multiple organizations who are responsible for the pantry. Because the program has limited revenue, the Utah Food Bank will be donating all of the food to stock the pantry.
Although several organizations started the U Food Pantry, the program itself will be run by an intern through the Bennion Center. The rest of the staff will be volunteers, also managed through the Bennion Center.
Almea Soares, a junior in communication, said the pantry will be a great program for students to volunteer.
“People are going to need experience to get a job and I think [the U Food Pantry] would be a good idea to give you experience,” Soares said.
Soares also said students would be more eager to volunteer if they knew the students receiving food needed the assistance. The U Food Pantry will have no required proof of need for the free food. Keen said the pantry will run on the honor system.
Because the operating costs of the Food Pantry will be low, the program will continue to receive donations for years to come. This means students will likely have a dependable source of food throughout the pantry’s existence. Keen hopes, if anything, the pantry will provide peace of mind to students struggling under increasing financial burdens.
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