The aim of the student Public Health project was initially to help ACPHS students eat healthier. But when the data came in, student researchers changed their objective.
The new goal was to make sure their fellow students got enough to eat.
It turned out ACPHS was not spared a problem faced by college campuses nationwide: food insecurity among students. In a survey of 93 students conducted by Public Health students Mayle Lupia-Eannace (pictured above, right), Alexander Rivera, Madison Ennis and Rima Kaddouh last year, 69 percent of students reported skipping a meal at least sometimes strictly due to financial limitations.
“I didn’t think there was so much food insecurity on campus,” Lupia-Eannace said.
Students took swift action. Last April, they joined with the nonprofit Swipe Out Hunger and Chartwells, which operates the food service at the Robison Dining Hall, to solicit meal swipe donations for students who needed them to buy food. Including 20 meals donated by Chartwells, they raised swipes for 100 meals.
Alum Nicole Ponarski, then a senior in the Public Health program, also took on the issue in her capstone project, becoming the driving force for a food pantry to benefit students on campus. The project resonated with alumni Benjamin Graham ’71 and Bernard Graham ’71, who led a group of donors to create the Class of 1971 Food Pantry.
The actual physical pantry consists of two white cupboards in the first-floor hallway at the Holland Avenue Building. They are stocked with easy-to-prepare nonperishables, one with food for breakfast, the other lunch and dinner. Students may take what they need with no questions asked. A sign-out survey can be accessed with a QR code and completed anonymously if desired.
Empty bags are in a drawer for potential donors to fill and return. Chartwells meal swipes are also kept there when available.
Lupia-Eannace continues to assist with the food pantry and is completing her own senior capstone project this year on ways to make it sustainable and to make fresh produce available. She is joined in managing the pantry by fellow Public Health student Sairidhi Dasari (pictured above, left), a third-year student who is planning to begin medical school next year. The pair said they have been heartened by the response from students who have enough resources to help others.
“It’s been really nice to be able to put our public health knowledge to work to help the campus community,” Lupia-Eannace said.
To make donations:
- Deliver food donations to Debbie Reutter, administrative specialist in Population Health Sciences, in HAB 104, M-F, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Or leave donations near the pantry anytime.
- Make a monetary donation online.