collegepantry
Students Helping Oz Peers (S.H.O.P.) pantry volunteers Amanda Sehres, (left) a school counseling major and a graduate assistant student coordinator of the project, and Rachel McGriff, a graduate assistant at the Counseling Services Center and a mental health counseling major stand in the pantry, which is offers food, toiletries and winter clothing to students in need. (Provided photo)
OSWEGO, N.Y. -- Some State University of New York at Oswego students have to choose between eating enough and buying books, according to the organizers of the Students Helping Oz Peers project.
"When you have to make a choice between buying books and food, well, we don't want students to have to make that choice," Dean of Students Jerri Howland said in a news release. "Most of the time you suffer in silence until a peer or a staff member identifies there's a need."
The Students Helping Oz Peers project opened its pantry last month to provide students in need with food, clothing and toiletries. The pantry is open from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. on Tuesdays and 12 to 3 p.m. on Fridays in the Penfield Library's basement.
"Food insecurity issues affect students at colleges and universities everywhere," Howland said. An October 2016 report by the National Student Campaign Against Hunger and Homelessness found 20 percent of students at four-year schools across the nation qualified as having very low food security, with 48 percent of respondents reporting food insecurity in the previous 30 days.
Student Association President Emily Nassir brought the pantry idea up in her weekly meeting with Howland, and they started recruiting others who could help make the project a reality.
Nearly $4,000 was raised in the spring semester in 2016 to start the pantry. Oswego worked with the College and University Food Bank Alliance, which offers a campus pantry toolkit.
"Our job is to advocate for the students who need help and to make sure the college experience is an enjoyable one," Nassir said in a news release. "We're really happy to be able to help – that's why we're here."
