OSU-Cascades pantry meets needs of hungry students

Published 5:00 am Monday, January 27, 2020

Hardly any students knew about the makeshift food pantry hidden in the back of the student government office on the Oregon State University-Cascades campus.

The ones that did were hungry and knew they could find a free packaged meal in a filing cabinet on the first floor of Tykeson Hall.

Two years later, the food pantry is hard to miss. It has expanded into a storage closet used by about seven students a day. Last fall, it provided 186 meals to students.

“It’s a great resource for all students,” said Brian Chavez, 23, OSU-Cascades student body president. “My hope was to get it more out in the open.”

Experts say nationally 2 in 5 college students skip meals so they can pay for other essential expenses, such as tuition, textbooks, rent and utilities. Many students at OSU-Cascades can relate.

“Even if you can pay for college, you might not be able to pay for food,” said Sophie Piaskowski, 20, an OSU-Cascades student government member who oversees student advocacy and runs the food pantry.

Offering free food to students helps them prepare for the physical and mental stress of college, Piaskowski said.

“I would say students now are definitely more conscious of what they are eating and making sure they are getting protein and the nutrients they need to perform the best they can in school,” she said.

Piaskowski is planning to start Fresh Food Tuesday, an event on the last Tuesday of the month when the food pantry can offer fresh fruits and vegetables to students. The first Fresh Food Tuesday is scheduled for Feb. 25.

“Fresh food will be laid out on tables like a farmers market, and the students can come pick up whatever they would like,” Piaskowski said.

A food drive is also being planned from Feb. 24 to 28.

The pantry relies on food donations from local grocery stores and food and cash donations from faculty members.

Piaskowski uses the cash donations to buy items for the food pantry. The most popular items are microwavable meals. The food pantry also tries to stock vegan, vegetarian and gluten -free options.

With the variety of items, Piaskowski is creating recipes to share with students. The students can take the recipes and create meals at their homes or in the shared kitchens on each dorm floor.

Piaskowski has found students today are more aware of their nutritional needs, and meeting those needs is a goal of the food pantry.

“Just the new knowledge coming in about health, and how what you eat affects your mental health and your performance in school,” she said.

As the food pantry becomes more popular, it may need a larger space. The storage closet that houses the food pantry also is used for other programs on campus. The shelves above the food are filled with Frisbees and hula hoops. There’s even a unicycle.

Piaskowski plans to meet with students at Oregon State University in Corvallis to get ideas from their food pantry. She hopes to one day expand the food pantry on the Bend campus.

One option would be to find space in the proposed Student Success Center, that is awaiting state funding to be built.

For now, Piaskowski is happy to serve the students from the storage closet. When the pantry is open, Piaskowki or another student volunteer will sit at a desk outside the pantry and welcome students. The desk has grab-and-go snacks like chips or granola bars and information about Oregon’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

“Every time students come through they are very thankful,” Piaskowski said. “They are very grateful it exists.”