The OU Food Pantry is serving students during summer session for the first time this year.
Open 6-7 p.m. Tuesdays, the pantry provides food for students in need. It helped more than 30 students on a recent Tuesday, according to its Facebook page.
The Food Pantry opened in February and is at Stubbeman Village, 1113 Elm St.
Food Pantry Director Matthew Marks said the pantry has opened his horizons and made the staff excited to serve students.
“I’ve grown so much with my team,” Marks said. “We are so dedicated and ready to impact people.”
Students make up the entire staff at the Food Pantry, Marks said. The staff especially encourages freshman students and those involved in Greek life to volunteer. They are working on a marketing plan to serve more people than ever when the fall semester begins.
“It’s heartwarming to see these people find help through the pantry,” Marks said.
According to the OU Food Pantry’s website, 15 percent of college students say they’ve lost weight because they couldn’t afford food. Another 20 percent of students sometimes don’t eat for an entire day because they don’t have enough money for food. An additional 44 percent of students opt out of meals because of financial insecurities.
Food pantry staff have created a Twitter account, a Facebook page and a website hoping to reach those with food insecurities. But the problem is far bigger than the OU campus, and Marks said he would like to see more food pantries on other college campuses.
“I think it’s a huge unspoken problem,” he said.
Pantry volunteers work together and assemble meals to give to those in need. The pantry has served more than 200 people so far, and Marks said reviews from customers have been positive.
A partnering organization called Swipe to Share has helped raise money for the food pantry. Swipes to Share allows students to donate unused meal plan points to the food pantry, which allows pantry staff to add more food to its inventory.
Swipe to Share founder Yaseen Shurbaji said the organization raised about $25,000 for the food pantry in just four weeks. Before the program started, she said, those points just went to waste.
The food pantry also takes donations of non-perishable food items. According to its website, the most needed food items are canned meats, beans, rice, veggies, fruit, soup and dried pasta or spaghetti.
To learn more about the OU Food Pantry, visit its website, its Facebook at OU Food Pantry or its Twitter
