Campus food pantry opening for Wright State students

It’s becoming a familiar scene on television news reports. Cans and jars of donated soups, tuna, peanut butter and other foods are being sorted and boxed by volunteers in hopes of nursing the needy through tough times.

But the flurry of activity isn’t unfolding just at an inner-city food pantries. It’s also beginning to happen on college campuses.

A campus food bank opened last spring at Oregon State University, which donated the use of walk-in freezers and shelves. West Virginia University launched a food bank called The Rack in the fall following a media report about students who had no money to buy food but hid their hunger because they were embarrassed. And Utah Valley University joined several others in the state in opening an on-site food pantry for struggling students.

On Jan. 31, Wright State will join a growing number of universities that have opened food pantries for needy students.

Directing the food-pantry workers at Wright State is Rebecca Fensler, of Ohio Campus Compact/AmeriCorps VISTA. As she organized the food pantry, Fensler couldn’t help but think back to when she attended college and had to put off meals until her student-loan payment arrived because the salary from her part-time job had to go for books and rent.

“There were a lot of times when I think something like this could have really helped me,” she said. “There were times when I didn’t eat.”

Fensler believes hunger is becoming more pronounced among college students because of the sluggish economy. She said some students have enrolled in college because they can’t find jobs. Others are unemployed, non-traditional students with families to support. Still others work part time, but struggle to pay the bills.

“When we think of college students, sometimes we think of residential students who are living in dorms and have meal plans, when in fact that’s not necessarily the typical college student we find at a university,” she said.

Wright State’s food pantry was the brainchild of a faculty member, who heard about a campus food bank at UCLA called the Food Closet.

Wright State’s Office of Service Learning applied for and received a grant through Ohio Campus Compact/AmeriCorps VISTA to bring in Fensler. She investigated what other schools were doing and along with Stephanie Dickey’s English 102 service-learning class conducted a survey of Wright State students.

“Then it was just about raising awareness of this issue and working with students and the university community to get donations of money, food for the pantry,” she said.

Since then, students have been helping sort, box and organize the food.

“I feel honored that I get to help. I wasn’t aware of the problem and how big of an issue it was,” said Rachael Smith, of Lebanon, a sophomore education major. “Now that I know, I want to do everything I can to help.”

The food pantry will be located in 134 Allyn Hall. Bags of food designed to last 48 hours for the average user will be distributed.

Fensler said the food pantry is still in need of monetary donations as well as food items such as tuna, chili, pasta, pasta sauce as well as toothpaste, shampoo, baby wipes and diapers.

Most importantly, Fensler said, students need to be made aware of the food pantry. And faculty or administrators who see students in need should make sure they know about the program, she said.

Fensler said that in addition to supplying food to students, the pantry will also try to connect with resources in the community those students who may qualify for assistance with long-term food needs or have problems such as paying heating bills.

“We hope this is a service that will support students so they are able to stay in school through crisis and emergency,” Fensler said.

To donate to the food pantry, items can be brought to the Office of Service Learning, 127 Allyn Hall. For more information about making a donation, please contact Rebecca Fensler at 775-2082 or by e-mail at rebecca.fensler@wright.edu.