Food for thought: pantry at BBC needs support

Photo by Stephanie Mason

Destiney Burt/ Staff Writer

Students lacking food on campus is more common than people think.

Christine Tellez, the dietician for Student Health Services recognized the students’ need for food when they came into her office and were asked about their daily eating habits.

“I’ve had many meetings with students where it would be brought to my attention that they didn’t have enough to eat,” Tellez said.

That gave Tellez the idea to kick-start a food pantry, she shared the idea with her colleague Sarah Kenneally, senior health educator for Student Health Services, who did the research.

When asked if most students in need might not be utilizing this option is due to embarrassment Tellez said, “I definitely think there is a stigma attached to it, but this is all confidential so students shouldn’t be discouraged, because we will never share their information with anyone.”

Tellez made it a point that this pantry is open up to all students in need and to just remember that at some point everybody needs a little bit of assistance so to not feel ashamed.

The food pantry just opened in January and they are down to maybe half of the donations they received in December 2013.

“We just want it to be sustainable, I don’t want to run out of donations,” Kenneally said, “I want to be able to keep going.”

This food pantry that is located at the Wellness Center in WUC 307, at the Biscayne Bay Campus, is going to be expanding to the Modesto Maidique Campus in March 2014.

Along with the expansion, Tellez and Kenneally are hoping for more support.

“We want it to be student ran eventually,” Keneally said, “we don’t have funding for it, so along with it expanding, soon it would be nice to get support from Feeding South Florida, who is the food bank warehouse that supplies all the food pantries in south Florida.”

However, expanding is not their number one priority, “I need the sustainability more than the size or anything else,” Kenneally said.

In due time, they are also hoping for funding from the Student Government Association.

“Usually employees help volunteer, but anyone is welcome to volunteer and bring food donations or do food drives,” Keneally said.

The food pantry operates on Mondays and Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., available to all FIU students, with no proof of need required.

 

-bbc@fiusm.com