DENVER -- It's feast or famine at the Roadrunner Food Pantry on the Auraria Campus.
Some days the shelves are full, some days they're nearly empty.
"We just got some donations today," said food pantry assistant Lylybell Padron, while opening the refrigerator door. "Today, we got some oranges, apples and eggs."
Earlier this week, a student started a GoFundMe account seeking to raise money to restock the shelves, after learning they were bare.
The pantry, set up by student government in 2007, plays a crucial role in helping many non-traditional students get through the day.
MSU student Maly Mendieta remembers what it was like being "food insecure" her first two years of college.
"It was stressful," she said.
Now, Mendieta is in student government and tells incoming students that, in a way, the pantry can seem like home.
"Because I know for sure that I can go somewhere and get a couple of items and at least get a snack to get through the day," she said.
Alex M. Horton feels the same way.
"It kind of means comfort and security," he said.
Horton said he's been in the pantry when there wasn't much to choose from.
"It was fine," he said. "I'd take what I could find and make it into something. If I had stuff at home, that I could pair it with, or if I had to go get other food to make it work as a cohesive meal, that was fine too."
The interim director of MSU's Student Care Center says the pantry provides more than just food.
Erica Quintana-Garcia said, "people try to support their family on it. They come in and get diapers, and stock up for the week. I think everyone has a different experience."
Quintana-Garcia told Denver7 that pantry staff will be making fall baskets soon, to give out before Thanksgiving.
MSU student Kiara Galvan, a peer leader in the school's EPIC Scholars program, which "Ghelps independent students who have been in foster care, kinship care, legal guardianship or Division of Youth Services, said the food is great at the Roadrunner Pantry, but for the holidays, food with a little more pizzazz would be great.
"Gift cards would be a great way to help students who want to purchase meat, like turkey, if that's what they choose to celebrate with," Galvan said.
This is the donation link on the MSU Denver Roadrunner Food Pantry website.
