SHEPHERDSTOWN, W.Va. — Shepherd University is addressing food insecurity among its students by opening a food pantry at Boteler Hall, where the Ram Mart convenience store used to be on West Campus.
Shepherd is partnering with the Mountaineer Food Bank, which will provide the university with an inventory list of both free and for-cost items that can be selected and delivered the second Tuesday of each month.
The Ram Pantry will be open Wednesdays from 1 to 3 p.m. and Fridays from 5 to 7 p.m.
“The purpose of the pantry is to help improve food insecurity on campus or, ideally, eliminate it completely, and to improve the well-being of our students so they can focus on why they’re here — to get an education,” said Jennifer Flora, Shepherd’s wellness center director who is spearheading efforts to open the pantry.
The Ram Pantry, which will be managed by Angel Petty, a college student development and administration graduate student from Baltimore, will offer nonperishable food and some perishable food, such as milk, cheese and butter.
It will be open to on-campus, commuter, non-degree seeking and dual-enrollment students with the 15 or fewer meal plan or no meal plan, and faculty members who have a waiver.
Flora says it eventually will offer personal-hygiene products available to all students.
Those who use the pantry will fill out an intake form, swipe their Rambler card to make sure they are active students, then get one grocery bag to fill.
Flora began looking into starting a pantry when she learned many students lost their refrigerated food after an extended power outage in February.
She did a survey at the end of spring semester that showed of 346 student participants, 42.3% said they dealt with food insecurity over the previous year and 55.5% knew of other students who dealt with food insecurity.
““About half of our student body potentially is facing food insecurity based on the survey, and that’s huge,” Flora said in the release. “It’s not just the students. Their family members also may need help. Since we have a high percentage of commuter students, they will be able to take food home to their families.”
The new Ram Pantry is stocked with the first shipment from Mountaineer Food Bank and from the annual homecoming food-drive competition.
Ten teams collected 3,097 pounds of food. The winners were Sigma Sigma Sigma sorority, which collected 924 pounds in the blue category for groups with 18 or more members, and Theta Xi fraternity, which collected 426 pounds in the gold category for groups with fewer than 18 members.
Flora said community partners include New Street United Methodist Church and the Shepherdstown Lions and Rotary clubs.
Flora estimates it could take about $9,000 to $11,000 per year to support the pantry, and she said donations are welcome.
For more information or to donate, send an email to jflora@shepherd.edu.
