Tamica Jean-Charles/Entertainment Director
Two in five FIU students have skipped a meal due to financial reasons, according to a recent survey conducted by Student Media, which polled 101 students.
The University’s food pantry, created back in 2014, aims to curb student hunger on both the Modesto Maidique and Biscayne Bay campuses. Both pantries have seen a significant increase over the past four years, with the number of visitors and pounds of food increasing over six-fold.
“It’s definitely not a one size fits all,” said Joanna Garcia, associate director for the Center of Leadership and Service, who oversees the food pantry at MMC.
Food insecurity can be defined as having uncertainties about where ones next meal will come from. 30 percent of FIU students are insecure about their current food situation at least some of the time, according to the same Student Media survey.
Ludovica Virgile, an office specialist at the Healthy Living Program at BBC, works closely with the food pantry.
Students are allotted up to 10 pounds of foods a week. No proof of need is required when visiting the pantry, however, if a student expresses a need that goes beyond what the pantry offers, officials can step in and provide further assistance to the student, said Virgile.
Virgile also said students are able to retrieve food during after hours.
The food pantry tackles all six levels of the food pantry: dairy, vegetables,fruits, proteins and grains, while also providing oil, condiments and toiletries.
But, while the food pantry in both campuses has received more visibility over the years, donations have not seen similar success.
The MMC food pantry, which recently moved into a new space in April 2018, receives the highest amount of visitors of the two, with 1,390 students visiting the office since July 2018, according to Virgile. The freshly-remodeled room located in Graham Center has two workers, one undergrad and graduate assistant, and tablet to collect data of pantry visitors.
The BBC food pantry, however, resides in a single, six compartment bookshelf in an equally as dismal room in the Healthy-Living Programs office. The BBC office lacks any student or technological assistance, and students can only visit the pantry once a week.
“Their data collection process is a lot more streamlined,” said Virgile. “Us over here, we are a little bit limited in the fact that don’t have an entire dedicated space, however, we are working on that and hopefully by January we will have an entire room dedicated for the food pantry.”
Students at both campuses also have the opportunity to meet with the University’s dietitian to create a diet-specific meal plan, according to Virgile, which may help set up a way for students to get the food they need.
Both MMC and BBC address students needs fairly well, said Virgile.
“We’re working together in trying to keep things similar while also trying to cater to the specifics of our campuses,” said Virgile.
Both food pantries hope to partner with local food banks to increase inventory. Garcia said she is in the works of collaborating with Feeding South Florida, a local food bank, to obtain additional resources for the pantry to potentially receive non-donation materials.
“It’s a dream to be able to expand, and definitely incorporate some of the fresh products or produce,” said Garcia. “That’s definitely something we need to research on and look into a lot more and would require more space.”
The food pantry also collaborates with other clubs and organizations to gather more donations. “Food for Fines” is an initiative created by the pantry and the University’s libraries in which students can eliminate overdue fines in exchange for food donations. Departments can also “adopt a month,” or spend an entire month collecting food donations through drives or other methods.
Those interested in learning more about the food pantry can visit their office in GC 319 at MMC or WUC 307 at BBC.
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