Feed the Pack Food Pantry kicked off its Sponsor a Shelf initiative last month which encourages organizations on campus to sign up to take part in gathering food items to help alleviate hunger within the NC State community.
“It was only launched about a month ago, but has really taken off since then,” said Amanda Dango, executive director of the Feed the Pack advisory board.
Once the traditional school year ends, many students leave campus to go elsewhere which means that the food drives end as well, forcing FTP to find another way to supplement its food supply.
“Summer is one of our leanest times by far, but based on the number of organizations that have signed up to donate thus far, [Sponsor a Shelf] is going to help tremendously with our stock,” said P. J. Adams, one of the chairs of the Feed the Pack advisory board.
Sponsor a Shelf provides a more organized system that will ideally provide the necessary amount of food needed for the community. Organizations who sign up to stock a shelf are allowed to choose which food item that they would like to provide. Only one organization can sign up to donate a particular food or personal care item to ensure that the pantry does not have too much of any one type of item.
According to Feeding America’s website, 38 states including the District of Columbia have at least 20 percent of children who are food insecure. Comparatively, a 2014 survey showed that 10 percent of Feeding America’s adult clients are students, showing that not only is there stress from school, but they also struggle with having enough to eat.
The numbers on hunger, though staggering, are not enough to make participants feel like their work is futile.
“You can get bogged down with these numbers or you can say, ‘what can we do to improve that?’ Here in our sphere we set up a food pantry to combat food insecurity,” said Mike Giancola, associate vice provost of student leadership and development, as well as a founding member of Feed the Pack.
Feed the Pack provides for all members of the NC State community, though many people feel embarrassed to be seen receiving help.
“If someone shows up at the pantry and says ‘I need food’ and they’re a member of this campus community — that’s the only qualifying event [for receiving help],” Giancola said. “We’re not trying to collect data about individual people because we want it to be a place where people feel comfortable.”
Feed the Pack will collect the donations from the various organizations that have agreed to participate on July 17. The organizations that have signed up to participate are currently in the process of gathering food.
“Our intent was to go to each of their offices and go pick up the food. As of now, 41 different offices and departments have signed up to donate,” Adams said.
Adams said he anticipates each of the bins that the organizations were given to collect food will be at least full, if not overflowing with food based on his previous experience with food drives at NC State.
“It’s not uncommon to have 30 or 40 visits per month during the summer months. You take 30 or 40 visits, with each one taking 10 pounds of food from the pantry – it adds up,” Adams said.
Dango said that despite dealing with low numbers of volunteers, the constant struggle to keep food on the shelves and now having to move their operations to Carmichael Gymnasium due to Harrelson Hall being torn down, FTP has remained committed to helping those in need.
