At the start of a new semester, students come back to campus and return to the routine of eating between classes and trying to find time to shop for groceries. For some, the process of grocery shopping is difficult and intimidating due to food insecurity.
A resource for Auburn students who may be facing food insecurity is the Campus Food Pantry.
The Campus Food Pantry began in 2013 and is run by the Auburn Cares office. The main goal of the organization is to assist students who face food insecurity.
"Food insecurity could be students that have reduced food intake or are not able to eat healthy, nutritional meals due to financial status,” said Katherine Hettinger, manager of the Auburn Cares office.
Campus Food Pantry differs from Campus Kitchen, in that it provides students with non-perishable food items including pasta, rice, peanut butter and granola bars or toiletries like toothbrushes.
“We would really like to grow and serve more students,” said Sarah Grace Walters, coordinator of the Auburn Cares office.
For the fall 2017 semester, the Campus Food Pantry assisted 50 students for a total of 177 visits.
For students to be eligible to use the Campus Food Pantry they need to be enrolled. Unlike federal assistance programs or other food banks, there is no check for financial need. If students decide to use the Food Pantry, they will contact the Auburn Cares office and then fill out an application.
The application provides information in order for the office to prove enrollment and then allows the student to fill out their food preferences or dietary needs. Students may use the food pantry once a week for as many weeks as are necessary for their situation.
“Typically, the beginning of each semester is when we get more students asking about using the Food Pantry,” said Walters.
Both Hettinger and Walters wanted to reassure students that the Campus Food Pantry is a confidential service. In order to maintain student confidentiality, the only people who see the applications and fill the requests are the staff members of the Auburn Cares office.
The Campus Food Pantry typically doesn’t allow students to volunteer with them. Hettinger said the best way for students to assist the food pantry is through food drives and benefit nights. Since the food pantry is strictly donation based, donations of non-perishable goods will help ensure the success of the Campus Food Pantry.
In order to fight the stigma and struggle of food insecurity, a new scholarship called the Feed the Family Fund is being introduced. This scholarship is need-based and provides meal-assistance, meaning money will be loaded to a student’s TigerCard so they can eat on campus and students awarded this scholarship are still eligible to use the food pantry as well.
“Nobody knows where the dining dollars come from and students will look just like everyone else,” said Hettinger, explaining how this scholarship will help reduce the stigma around food insecurity on campus.
The Campus Food Pantry operates during normal business hours every week, and if a student is interested in using this resource they should contact either Katherine Hettinger or Sarah Grace Walters via auburncares@auburn.edu.
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