Story by ADIA REYNOLDS Photos by RORY MOORE
Tiger Media Network
Last Tuesday, the Tiger Food Pantry in the Union hosted an open house to inform students about the pantry’s resources. Tiger Food Pantry co-chair Robert Duffy spoke to students about food scarcity and its relationship to financial hardship.
“Hungry students don’t study well… we just want to even the playing field for them,” Duffy said.
Students were encouraged to have a discussion with Duffy and invited to explore the food pantry in an open-house format with the goal of eliminating any nervousness that students new to campus might feel coming to the pantry for help. The stereotype of ‘cheap college student’ comes to life in the day to day life of many people living, working, and earning degrees on campus. Those working at the pantry aim to eliminate the shameful feelings that can be associated with food insecurity, and instead work to promote a friendly, welcoming atmosphere.
“I’m a regular… it’s very good to have it [the food pantry] because I’m international and I don’t have the time to go shopping,” Lin, an exchange student on campus, said.
The food pantry is a convenient solution to avoid both the time and money necessary to go to the store and hosts a wide variety of foodstuffs to choose from. Snack foods, instant dinners, spaghetti, peanut butter and jelly sandwich supplies, canned foods, and coffee pods. However, the pantry also offers Fresh Food Fridays. This initiative works in conjunction with the gardens on campus to provide fresh produce and meal kits to anyone who can stop by. Duffy believes students want to eat healthily, stating that these fresh meals are the first off the shelves, even before quick and easy processed foods. Meal kits are available on a first-come, first-serve basis.
Despite the name, the food pantry offers more than nutritious supplies. They also offer toiletries such as shampoo/conditioner, hand sanitizer, facecloths, and period products. Everything one could need to ease their daily cost of living is available.
Those in need are allowed to take resources without the pressure to pay or even return the favor. Participants are encouraged, however, to be mindful of others in a similar situation to them. There is a limit of seven items per day, per person. In this way, the reality of poverty-line food scarcity is never diminished but treated with care and respect for all individuals who find themselves in need.
The Food Pantry accepts donations of non-perishable food items and plastic bags in the grocery cart outside the food pantry entrance. Alternatively, the food pantry partners with the gardens on campus, and could always use extra hands at various points throughout the season.
“We coordinate what we call ‘work nights’…” Duffy said, which ranges from organizing donations, shopping trips, and turning the garden beds.
Whether it be through work nights, donations, or just stopping by to fulfill day-to-day needs, the Tiger Food Pantry can be a beneficial resource for FHSU students.
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