New Space For North Campus Food Pantry
The food pantry at North Campus has relocated to Room 3115 where they now have more flexibility to serve students.
Service hours are Tuesday from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. and Friday from 9 a.m to 1 p.m., where they provide canned food and non-perishables to approximately 40 students a week. The service opened the doors to its new location on Feb. 25.
“With this new location in building 3 we have both expanded our food selection and the number of students we are serving has drastically increased,” said Sarah Garman, a humanities professor and United Faculty of Miami Dade College union vice president for North Campus.
The facility with brightly painted and stocked shelves has the capacity to serve double the amount of people. Census figures show 20 percent of the Miami-Dade County population lives below the poverty line. This year North Campus staff and students donated more than 5,000 canned food items to the pantry. On-going food drives continue throughout the year.
Benjamin Paul, AmeriCorps VISTA/volunteer coordinator, said the food pantry has an inventory of more than 3,500 items including a supply of corn, beans, tuna, Vienna sausages, noodles, rice, soup, water and Chef Boyardee spaghetti.
“We are working with Feeding South Florida to get fresh foods and baked goods to the pantry,” Garman said. “Getting baby food, formula, diapers and more hygiene products is also something the pantry is working on.”
Garman said the food pantry started two years ago in an office within the Student Life Department. The goods used to be distributed in the building 4 breezeway but with few students taking food.
“In the past it was a small amount of students and not many people knew about it,” Paul said. “With this new location we now have a computer where we can pull up student’s information quickly to find out if they are eligible for the benefits, and more people know about us.”
To qualify for Food Pantry access, students can go to the Single Stop department and fill out an application that acts as their screening for benefits. This intake form can also help students qualify for food stamps, medical care, financial coaching and more.
“We want to both be there for the students in emergency situations, and get them coaching on how to take care of themselves,” said Paul, who oversees all student volunteers and gives out assignments.
Student volunteers decorated the new food pantry, organized the stock, distributed and transported the food, and spread the news about the food pantry by word of mouth as well as flyers. Students can sign up for 10-15 hours of service learning with the food pantry through the Single Stop department.
On March 4, students, faculty and staff all joined in a food packing event at North Campus, “Meals of Hope Experience.”
Garman organized the event. She led a group of 350 students and staff who filled the cafeteria wearing the bright green T-shirts distributed at the event. While chanting and laughing the volunteers worked in groups to pack meals of mac and cheese as well as soy chicken and rice.
Miami Culinary Institute was in attendance to demonstrate how to prepare the food. North Campus students, faculty and staff worked together to provide the meals which were 20 cents each.
“I can’t believe how many students we have volunteering, it is so exciting,” Garman said at the Meals of Hope Experience event.
The efforts resulted in 50,000 packed meals to be distributed at the pantry.
For more information or to set up a Food Pantry screening at the North Campus, call 305-237-1444 or visit Room 1119B.
