Food pantry started to help hungry UIS students - The State Journal-Register

Food pantry started to help hungry UIS students - The State Journal-Register

Tamara Browning Staff Writer @tambrowningSJR

University of Illinois Springfield graduate student Malayzja Anderson knows that students like her are at times compelled to stretch their money and food in resourceful ways.

Food insecurity in particular is common among students, Anderson has found. She’s addressing that issue by helping to stock donated, nonperishable food items for the university’s new UIS Cares, an initiative that provides a food pantry for students.

“Around this time of year, especially as the semester is ending, meal plans are depleted, so students often eat at their friends’ houses or may not eat as much for the day,” said Anderson, 25, a world history masters candidate and graduate assistant in UIS’ Diversity Center. “With the food pantry, they’re able to come in and just grab something to supplement them.”

UIS Cares opened for the first time from 3 to 6 p.m. Thursday at the Volunteer and Civic Engagement Center, Student Affairs Building 60, on the UIS campus.

UIS Cares also will be open to UIS students for the fall semester from 3 to 6 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 17, and Thursday, Dec. 1.

“It will be ongoing,” said Mark Dochterman, director of the Volunteer and Civic Engagement Center. “It also has its own email address (UISCares@uis.edu), and people can contact us directly and set up a time. Hunger doesn’t happen on our schedule. If somebody needs to come in between these dates or a different time … we’ll work with them on an individual basis.”

UIS Cares will also provide information to students who use the pantry about other resources for food.

“There are statewide resources as well as local resources for people that are struggling with food assistance, and so we’re not trying to replace those things,” Dochterman said. "We’re trying to sort of be an access point, an easy access point, for some food and information.”

Jeannie Capranica, who works in UIS’ Division of Student Affairs, said that staff were discovering that a few students were homeless and some needed food.

“For years, we had various departments within Student Affairs would bring in canned goods and set them up on the tables, and within a day, all the food would be gone,” said Capranica, who added that some needy students are struggling because of financial aid issues. “So we’ve known that we’ve had this issue for a while, but it just became very apparent recently that we needed to do something about it.”

UIS Cares is co-sponsored by the Division of Student Affairs, the Volunteer and Civic Engagement Center and UIS Rotaract Club (college affiliate of Rotary Club).

Drop-off locations for donated, nonperishable food are available around the UIS campus.

On Thursday, nonperishable items in the pantry included canned vegetables, snacks, noodles, sauces, meats, fruits, ethnic food, cereal, beans, dessert, dinners and baking items. Students can choose the food they want.

Anderson, who is treasurer of the UIS Rotaract Club, said most students who live in dorms prefer individually wrapped, microwavable foods.

“That’s kind of a hot item that we’re looking for because the students in the dorms don’t have stoves to cook,” said Anderson, who is from Chicago. “As a college student in general, you have to be resourceful. So, definitely, I always try to stretch food and money, especially around the holidays.”

Dochterman said the goal Thursday was “to give some food away.”

“We’re a bunch of academics at the university, and sometimes we think about these things too hard, and we get overly scientific about it,” Dochterman said. “This is one thing where we’ve said, ‘We know we need it. We don’t know to what extent we need it, but we’re just going to do it.’ ”

-- Contact Tamara Browning: tamara.browning@sj-r.com, 788-1534, http://twitter.com/tambrowningSJR.

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To donate to UIS Cares

To donate food to UIS Cares, contact the Volunteer and Civic Engagement Center at 206-7716 or UISCares@uis.edu. Monetary donations can be made via http://ift.tt/2eWvwyP.

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Foodbank event Saturday

WHAT: Central Illinois Foodbank’s healthy food distribution in Sangamon County

WHEN: 10 a.m. Saturday

WHERE: Central Counties Health Centers, 2239 E. Cook St.

INFO: Beyond the food, there will be an opportunity to get free toothbrushes, ask local bankers questions about finances and take advantage of other services.