UWF launches drive to stock the new Argo Pantry for students

  • February 20, 2014
  • /   Shannon Nickinson
  • /   education
  The University of West Florida, in partnership with Manna Pantries of Pensacola, launched a food drive Feb. 19 to stock an on-campus pantry for students in need. Beta tested in fall 2013, Argo Pantry is a campus pantry that will sustain currently enrolled UWF students with free, healthy food and basic personal care items for times of need. UWF will support the Argo Pantry by hosting food drives, volunteering and donating items. “As food insecurity is a growing trend among college students, we are working to support our students in the best way possible, while bringing the UWF community together for a good cause,” said Dr. Lusharon Wiley, director of case management services in the Dean of Students Office. Last fall, Wiley, who has been at UWF for 20 years and whose professional background includes social work, noticed an increase in the number of students struggling financially and food wise. The student counseling center also had notice more students coming in who were struggling, too. Wiley reached out to Manna Food Pantries and helped form a partnership to open  the pantry on campus. It makes UWF the sixth state university with a food pantry on campus, “and I spoke to one on the phone today that is about to become the seventh,” Wiley says. Four of our five peer institutions also have pantries, one of those being Valdosta State University in Valdosta, Ga., and another being Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, Tenn.  Wiley says the background materials for running the pantry are modeled on pantries at the University of North Florida and at Gulf Coast University. “We had 19 students who have already utilized the pantry and this is before we made the general announcement today,” Wiley says. “We believe we will see an increase now that we’ve made that announcement.” The students who need the pantry need it not just for one reason. For some, it is lack of household income for their parents. For some, it is a job loss or reduced work hours of their own, Wiley says. “A confluence of things came together to impact the students,” Wiley says. “They may have had enough to pay tuition, but it was a situation of, ‘Do I buy this book, or do I buy food?’” Wiley says, college students, who are considered part of the household until they are 26, are not typically eligible for the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, or food stamps. The pantry will be open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and already there is a list of students who want to volunteer time to help at the pantry. Wiley says pantry organizers are asking not only for food items, but also for personal care items such as soap, toothpaste, deodorant and the like. The inaugural Argo Pantry food drive continues through March 9. Collection boxes are available in the Commons, Dean of Students Office, Recreation Facilities and the Library. Visit http://uwf.edu/deanofstudents/argofoodpantry.cfm for a list of suggested donation items.
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