Feed the Pack announced plans to relocate the student food pantry to North Hall, and has partnered with Pack Essentials to create the Pack Essentials Hub.

Feed the Pack is a student-led food pantry available to any NC State community member facing food insecurity. The pantry was previously located in Quad Commons and has moved to North Hall and will include more amenities not previously associated with Feed the Pack. The location in North Hall will be known as a Pack Essentials Hub, the first of its kind at the University.

In the 2021-22 academic year, Pack Essentials received nearly 1,700 applications from students seeking aid and was able to provide close to $360,000 to those students. That same year, the food pantry saw 6,800 visits. The goal of the Pack Essentials Hub is to centralize these critical resources for students experiencing basic needs insecurity. 

“This is an introduction of new services and basically a one-stop-shop for students to access their basic needs,” said Mike Giancola, assistant vice chancellor of Student Ombuds Services. “While the pantry will be the main aspect of the hub, it will also be a place where students can access other resources.” 

Resources students can expect include cookware and kitchen appliances, a distribution site for the Staff Senate’s winter clothing drive, information on the student emergency fund used for students experiencing housing insecurity and a lounge area.

Giancola said he recognizes the stigma often associated with asking for help with food and housing insecurity, and hopes that Pack Essentials will help change the narrative.

“We’ve designed all of the Pack Essential programs that we have with dignity in mind,” Giancola said. “We work very hard to make sure that we meet students where they’re at. There’s no judgment in how we connect them to resources. I want to be very clear, we don’t want to normalize hunger or housing insecurity, but we do want to normalize reaching out if they need help.”

Feed the Pack program coordinator, Rose Krebs, said the lounge space in the hub is meant to be a place students can come in, interact with each other and build community.

“Whether that’s for us to host programming events, bring in partners or just offering a time for folks to come and hang out, work on some school work or relax after the day and to have a community building space,” Krebs said.

Giancola said the program understands that food insecurity doesn’t cease just because the University is closed. The hub will remain open over the summer, as well as during spring and winter break, as the Feed the Pack pantry has in the past. 

“Sometimes for students, [breaks] become a bigger challenge if they don’t have access to financial aid or other support they may have during the academic year, so the pantry doesn’t close,” Giancola said. “Pack Essentials continues to support students throughout the summer.” 

The Pack Essentials Hub opened in North Hall on April 11. Further information on Pack Essentials can be found at dasa.ncsu.edu/support-and-advocacy/pack-essentials/.