Wheelock launches food pantry for students in need

Members of the Boston University student community in need of necessities such as food and hygiene products can now access them at the Community Cares Food & Essentials Pantry, opened by Wheelock College of Education and Human Development’s Student Services office.

A kick-off event titled “Delish for Less” is scheduled for Wednesday and will feature cooking demos and nutrition experts from the Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences. The pantry’s initial hours will be Dec. 11, 12, 17, 18 and 19 from 1-5 p.m. at Wheelock.

The initiative was launched after Stephanie Clendenin, associate director of Online Student Services at Wheelock, found there was a high percentage of college students having food insecurity issues. Clendenin, who is also a staff representative for the BU Wheelock Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Elected Committee, helped organize the pantry.

“We did a little bit of background research before we embarked on this, and we found some research indicating that nationwide, food insecurity is at around 30 percent in college students,” Clendenin said. “We also found out that this happens to students on financial aid, this happens to students who have meal plans, and we have seen that other colleges across the U.S. and in New England have launched similar programs.”

Valentina Varela, a graduate student in Wheelock and a student services graduate assistant, wrote in an email the goal of the pantry is to help the community.

“Our goal by creating the food and essentials pantry is to provide a resource to students who are facing food insecurity,” Varela wrote, “and create awareness on how this topic has a negative impact on the student population.”

Up to 50 percent of the country’s college population have problems with accessing food, according to the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Researchers have linked food insecurity in college to lower graduation rates, as well as students’ general ability to function and their performance in school.

The pantry is funded mainly by The Wellbeing Project, according to a Wheelock press release. This project is a campus-wide initiative launched by the Office of the Provost that allows faculty, staff and students at BU to submit proposals that cost up to $2,000 and aim to build community and help students.

As the pantry is still in its pilot phase, the Student Services office at Wheelock is going to run it on an “online-shopping” model.

This model will allow the office to analyze what resources are missing and the actual pantry will launch after the holidays, Paul Hastings, the director of Student Services at Wheelock, said.

“We’re going to start with the pickup model, but our plan after the holidays is to have the actual pantry open one day a week for people to come in and actually take a look at the food and pick what they need for themselves,” Hastings said. “But at this point, since the semester is coming to an end, we want to be able to get this up and running. The pick up of the prepackaged food bags is going to be the best way for us to start out.”

Students will have to fill out a form online, submit it and then pick up their choices at Wheelock, Clendenin said.

“In doing that, they’ll have to log in using their Kerberos,” Clendenin said. “We’re asking them to log in for two reasons: one is to confirm that they are associated with Boston University, two is so that we know which items belong to them.”

Hastings said the pantry will serve all members of the BU community, but as it is an initiative launched by the Student Services office at Wheelock, Wheelock students are the main population that the pantry is looking to help.

“Because this is a Student Services initiative out of our office, we’re really aiming to provide this service first and foremost to BU Wheelock students, since they’re the population that we serve at Student Services,” Hastings said. “However, if a student came in from the larger university, we certainly would not turn them away.”

Katarina Soto, a sophomore in the College of Communication, said she thinks the pantry is beneficial especially for students who don’t have the ability to go out to eat all the time.

“I’m lucky because I work in dining services so I get extra meals, but there have been multiple times where many of my friends have told me that they’re probably not going to eat today or go out and get a meal because they don’t have enough meal swipes or dining points,” Soto said. “I think what Wheelock is doing is definitely a good step towards the right direction.”

Nicole Hernandez, a freshman in the College of Engineering, said given the eating habits of college students, the pantry serves as a good option for students running out of dining hall swipes or dining points from their meal plans.

“I’m sure many people are running out of food since most people are used to eating three times a day,” Hernandez said. “Having food accessible is really helpful because first you need food to be able to study and work better.”

Isabella Yuson, a freshman in the College of Arts and Sciences, said the pantry is a good way for students to access necessities especially given the heavy price tag of tuition.

“BU is such a hard school to get into financially, and the tuition plus all the other necessities — we need some sort of outlet,” Yuson said. “Students who are struggling can get the resources they need.”