Emporia State opened Corky’s Cupboard using the 59,835 cans that squashed Washburn’s 15,000 in the annual Can the Bods competition on Monday.
“Any items or money that were donated here on campus stayed on campus,” said Tyler Huddleston, senior communication and Spanish major and Associated Student Government president. “Any items that we collected in the community, like KVOE does Pack the Pantry at the same time so we help them with that, any of those items went to the Salvation Army.”
Students can gather up to 10 food items once a week at Corky’s Cupboard, the new food pantry that was put together by a collaborative effort among ASG, the Center for Student Involvement and the Student Wellness Center.
“For a number of years, from time to time the health center has had students who have come through who have had an identified need for access to food that they didn’t have,” said Jason Bosch, senior director for the Center of Student Involvement. “There’s been an awareness that there’s been a need for something like this, and then in the spring semester we had a student who was severely food insecure, had become extremely malnourished. It was affecting this student’s performances. And that was kind of the tipping point, we said okay, we have to do something.”
In a survey taken by 40 students, 42 percent said that in the past month they had skipped a meal because they did not have enough money to buy food.
“I think it will help students focus on school because they won’t have to worry about eating ramen noodle meals every day,” said Robin McGonigal, junior biochemistry major.
Corky’s Cupboard is located near the CSI, with two entrances- one up the staircase next to the CSI and another to the left of the columns at the front of the memorial union.
“We chose the location because on the one hand it’s relatively easy to access because it’s right here in the Student Union, but on the other hand it’s easy to access privately because there is a south entrance to the Union that will take you right by the pantry,” Bosch said.
In a similar survey, 60 percent of 67 students at Sacramento State said that they were insecure about food during the fall 2013 semester. Sacramento State has been conducting more research throughout the fall 2014 semester.
“There’s food pantries at other campuses even here in Kansas, so this isn’t something that’s unique, but I think that there’s probably a need on all campuses,” Huddleston said. “I just don’t know if all campuses recognize that need and are combating that need like we are.”
In researching, ASG discovered institutions handled projects similar to this in many different ways, from requiring students to go through a complex application process to allowing anyone to use the pantry at any time.
“We kind of decided to take sort of a middle of the road approach, so we don’t have any eligibility other than you have to be a currently enrolled student,” Bosch said. “Any student can come and access the pantry with their hornet ID card. When the pantry is open, we do have it staffed by a student assistant but other than that any student can use it they don’t have to prove to us that they need it. We’re just putting our faith in the students that those who use it are the ones who will need it.”
Corky’s Cupboard is open Mondays and Thursdays from 12:00-5:00 p.m. while classes are in session.
