The Pointer UW-Stevens Point Student Newspaper
The Cupboard, a student-run food pantry, celebrated its first anniversary on Friday,
October 5th. Photos by Cassie Scott.
The Cupboard, a food pantry on campus, hosted an open house event last Friday for their one-year anniversary.
Liz Wescott, the Cupboard Operations Coordinator, hoped that students would stop in to see what the Cupboard is and look at their shelves. They also had their one-year annual report available for viewing.
The Cupboard is for students who need emergency or supplementary food. It was created to help students meet their basic needs so that they can concentrate on school.
“We got the idea about a year and a half ago after reading an article about the increase in food pantries,” Wescott said.
After doing some research, The Cupboard was created so that students didn’t have to choose between buying food and paying their bills.“Most of our food and supplies come from donations, other food pantries and a few companies like Coca-Cola,” Wescott said.
The Cupboard just recently started a business relationship with Coca-Cola.
“They send us products that will expire soon that they can’t use,” Wescott said.
Some of the products in the Cupboard are also bought, such as gluten-free foods, because they aren’t donated that often.
The main goal that Wescott wants to work on this year is providing more gluten-free, vegetarian and vegan foods.
“I’ve had students come and say that they’ve been to other food pantries and can hardly eat anything. We want to be able to provide for that large amount of students,” Wescott said.
The Cupboard also offers other products besides food, such as toilet paper, laundry detergent, deodorant and other toiletry items.
“We even have diapers available. We want to be able to serve parents. They just have to come in to set something up,” Wescott said.
The number of students that use the Cupboard increases every semester. Last year they had 194 clients with 159 visits.
“We’ve had 75 visits so far this semester,” Wescott said.
The Cupboard is open Mondays and Wednesdays from 3 pm to 5 pm and Tuesdays from 4 pm to 6 pm. It is located in the Dreyfus University Center, down the hall from the Student Involvement and Employment Office. Anybody with a valid University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point student ID is eligible.
