Arkansas Tech senior Marlie Ball said the new Green and Gold Cupboard is a “totally judgment-free” place for food-insecure students, faculty and staff to get help.
An open house took place Friday for the pantry, which is located in a former restaurant at 1019 N. Arkansas Ave. in
Russellville. Monday was the pantry’s official opening day.
“As a free resource, we want as many people as possible to use it,” Ball said. “Everybody who walks in is going to be greeted with a friendly smile; we don’t want to shame anybody from coming in there.”
The pantry is a project of Because We Can, a registered student organization, and the renovation of the Tech-owned building was paid for with a $67,760 grant from Tyson Foods. Ball is a member of Because We Can.
“So many students — it was definitely a collaborative effort — came together and worked on the pantry,” Ball said.
Because We Can faculty co-adviser James Stobaugh said he has no doubt there is a need for the food from the pantry. He said eight people, a mixture of students and staff, were served before the pantry opened, just through word of mouth.
“Every couple of semesters, I have a student I find out is living in their car,” Stobaugh said. “They’ve lost their job and are sticking it out till graduation, or all their money is going toward tuition, and they don’t have money for food.”
Classified-staff salaries are set by the state, he said, and an employee might be trying to raise a family of four on $16,000. Adjunct faculty members are paid per class and might be struggling, too.
“This is the need we expect,” he said.
Stobaugh said he and Because We Can faculty co-adviser Sean Huss are working on a survey to assess the need for the pantry on campus.
“The fact that we haven’t even opened our doors and already served eight people told us there is some need,” Stobaugh said.
He said the pantry is one of many projects Because We Can has undertaken. Members also conduct a toy drive and collect hygiene items for the Russellville School District.
“Food issues came to our attention,” Stobaugh said. “We always had our eye on the pantry.”
It’s been in the planning stages for about 1 1/2 to 2 years, he said.
In 2015, Because We Can advisers and students toured the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, which had a food-recovery program and a pantry.
“We knew we couldn’t do both,” Stobaugh said.
Because We Can launched the food-recovery program in January 2016 through The Campus Kitchens Project. Leftover food from the campus cafeteria is taken to missions and shelters in the city. Arkansas Tech was the first educational institution in Arkansas to join The Campus Kitchens Project.
“It’s gotten huge,” Stobaugh said. To date, more than 5 tons of food have been recovered and donated.
“We always knew with the food recovery, we also wanted a pantry,” he said. “A lot of things had to line up.”
In the spring semester of 2016, Because We Can applied for the Tyson grant, and it was awarded in August 2016.
“We spent the last year working out logistics, securing a place,” he said. Arkansas Tech University owns the empty building, a former restaurant about a block from the main campus.
Stobaugh said he and others toured it and agreed that it could work. It’s a former home, which Stobaugh estimates was built sometime in the early 1900s. The space was big enough, but it needed some renovations, including a floor replaced and the kitchen removed, because no cooking will be done in the food pantry.
Shelves were purchased, as well as a preparation table and supplies. A walk-in freezer will be purchased and installed in hopes of getting donations from ConAgra, he said.
“The food is all donated, or we’ll use monetary donations to go to the Arkansas Foodbank to buy food,” he said.
The pantry will be open from 3-6 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Stobaugh said hours might be adjusted based on the need.
“We’re opening this with a lot of unknowns,” he said.
Stobaugh said all that is necessary is to show an Arkansas Tech identification card. A three-day supply of food will be given.
“We try to give them some protein, soups,” he said. Volunteers in the pantry will ask what the person has available, such as only a microwave or a full kitchen.
Items in the pantry include peanut butter, tuna, bread to make sandwiches and lots of ramen.
“We have guidelines based on [the U. S. Department of Agriculture], and we just try to give you what we can,” Stobaugh said.
Arkansas Tech employee Angela Black, assistant librarian and Green and Gold Cupboard board member, helped organize a staff food drive over the summer to stock the cupboard.
The campus drive collected 2,492 pounds of food.
“I was absolutely flabbergasted at the response,” she said.
Black said the idea of a food pantry resonated with her because she’d been involved with a food-pantry startup as a member of the Staff Senate at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville.
She said her participation was also a way to honor her grandfather, who enjoyed volunteering and died this year.
“I wanted to get more involved with [Tech] students and help out on campus,” she said. “I wanted to do something with my extra time and give back.”
Black said she started attending Because We Can meetings and decided to volunteer to rally the staff for a food drive.
“We knew we were up against the deadline. There was a concern we wouldn’t have enough food to open our doors,” she said.
With the help of other volunteers and the Staff Senate, a five-week competition was held on campus during the summer when most students and faculty were gone, Black said.
Eighteen teams were formed, and donation boxes were placed in various departments. Food items were assigned different points, with items such as canned meat and peanut butter worth more.
An unexpected competition arose when student workers in the departments jumped in and decorated the donation boxes, Black said. A separate Facebook competition was held for the box designs, and points were awarded to the winner.
“The response was just so overwhelming,” she said of the drive. “A lot of the staff were very passionate about this drive, very passionate about the food pantry.”
Black said many staff members on campus will benefit from the pantry, “since many of our staff do not make high wages; in fact, they make very low wages.”
When Black talked to staff members who donated food, she said they made comments like, “’I remember what it’s like as a student or starting with a young family.’ They remember what it’s like to choose between getting their car fixed or going grocery shopping, or paying the light bill or buying food,” she said.
She said the food supply won’t last forever, and donations of food can be made whenever the pantry is open. Monetary donations can be made at www.atu.edu/foodpantry.
“It’s really going to take ongoing support to maintain and sustain this,” she said.
Senior writer Tammy Keith can be reached at (501) 327-0370 or tkeith@arkansasonline.com.