By Wyatt Garrett
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — According to a study by Student Affairs published in 2016, 38 percent of students deal with food insecurity on the University of Arkansas campus.
Eris, a current student and employee of the University of Arkansas, used the Jane B. Gearhart Food Pantry several times in 2015 when she was studying for her undergraduate degree.
She said that juggling responsibilities while going to school was tough.
“With my own apartment, and paying car payments, and going to school full time. It meant only going to work part time,” said Eris. “Even with student financial aid, it wasn’t enough to cover the bills.”
The food pantry gave Eris one less thing to stress about.
“You get to stop worrying about ‘Oh my God, am I going to run out of food? Am I going to run out of money for food?’,” said Eris. “Knowing that that service was there allowed me to concentrate on my studies, and that was amazing.”
Now the food pantry turns to campus for help with the Pack the Pantry event.
The pantry is currently taking donations like canned vegetables, soups, meats, and fruits among other things.
Kolten Long, food drive coordinator for the Volunteer Action Center, said the food drive is vital to the pantry.
“It provides us with a lot of stuff to get us through the semester, and to get us a little into next semester, until we do more drives,” Long said.
Long urges those looking to donate to consider bringing hygienic items as well.
“We are also desperately in need of hygiene items,” said Long. “People kind of forget that people that are food insecure can’t really pay for things like deodorant, laundry detergent, and toothbrushes.”
Donations are taken at the food pantry behind Bud Walton Hall, as well as around campus.
Pack the Pantry finishes up Nov. 8.