Campus Food Pantry Helps Students Afford Meals

It was a sunny afternoon in May 2020, and as the COVID-19 pandemic was raging across America, Dominic Pham, a Philosophy major at UW-Milwaukee, returned home from a demanding shift at his job. Most evenings, he prepared two packets of ramen and a pot of coffee.

“It gave me a more conscious consideration to the food and resources I had access to,” said Pham. “I came into the work force with a crappy job, so it forced me to ration food. My budget for food per month was $50.”

Pham felt forced to purchase food and other amenities from gas stations, because the pandemic affected the operating hours of many businesses. After the pandemic, Pham volunteered at the Riverwest Food Pantry, packaging up family-sized meals and distributing them to those in need.

“The disparity of food quality is reflected by class divide, and it really unfair to see that students, in order to attain a proper education, have to sacrifice basic needs,” said Pham. “It is good to see that people at the UWM Food Pantry and the Riverwest Food Pantry are going above and beyond to bring quality food to Milwaukee students and the greater Milwaukee community.” 

Students Face Food Insecurity

According to a study published in 2017 by Student Association at UWM, 49.4% of students said they did not have enough food to sustain themselves.

For many, the pandemic made food insecurity worse. The Hope Survey posits that 29% of students at four-year colleges experienced food insecurity in the fall of 2020.

However, some students mitigated this by moving back with their parents, as they were less likely to experience food insecurity. For some, this was not an option, and many people had to rely on UWM Food Pantry from time to time in order to feed themselves.

Weiss Miller, a former UWM student, never used a pantry before the pandemic.

“I thought I would be able to make the money myself for food, and even when I started going, I did not really tell anybody,” said Miller. “I’ve had friends joke around about poverty and homelessness, so the environment around was not too encouraging.”

Miller was not the only Wisconsinite to have never used a pantry before the pandemic. A study by Feeding Wisconsin showed that Wisconsin’s six regional Feeding America food banks saw an increase of 62% in food distributed over the previous year. The study also indicates that people with a four-year degree or higher are the second-highest group using a Feeding Wisconsin food pantry.

“We have seen an increase of numbers in the food pantry,” said Alexandra Dorshort, the Basic Needs Coordinator at UWM who runs the UWM food pantry.  “But it is hard to gauge what the pandemic has had on the food pantry, as we do not track why people come through to the pantry.  Likely COVID and Inflation has impacted society in general so it stands to reason that it would affect our pantry.”

According to a study by the Urban Institute, food insecurity rates are still increasing due to recent inflation, even nearly reaching numbers seen in the middle of the pandemic. This economic impact forces people like Miller to continue using food pantries.

“We came out of a global pandemic and jumped into another crisis,” said Miller. “I may have gotten my hours back but gas, food and rent went up, so going to a food pantry helps ease the stress.”

The Need for Food Pantries

There has always been a certain stigma toward food pantries and banks, and studies have shown that food-insecure students are less likely to excel academically than their food-secure counterparts, affecting their GPA, attendance, and mental health.

“I think there is a stigma around using the food pantry, we want people who are in need to seek us out and use our services, ” said Dorshort. “Sometimes, people do not want their friends to know or they feel like others need it more so they are hesitant to seek out help.”

“People tend to look down and paint a bad light on those who go to food pantries as its viewed as a circumstance that you shouldn’t be in, like something is wrong with you,” said Pham. “But those pantries ease the stress off of these students or family who are trying to be productive to society.”