FSU’s Own Food Pantry

The diet of the average university student is typically not the best. When students are focusing on their future career, the foods they eat are not usually the first things on their mind. Not to mention that nutritious foods are expensive and hard to come by on campus. Or are they? The Bottom Line had a chance to speak to FSU’s very own Food Pantry Coordinator, Melanie Hutter, at PAWS Pantry. PAWS Pantry has been serving our community exclusively since October of 2018 and has grown in size since. Open and freely available to all FSU students, PAWS Pantry offers a variety of different foods and services.

PAWS Pantry started as a group effort among various faculty and staff members, due to students expressing a need for assistance when it came to food. This need was then brought to the attention of the Director of Civic Engagement. An advisory board was created in the summer of 2018 which helped the pantry with setting up for service this academic year.  Melanie Hutter was hired through AmeriCorps as a full time Program Coordinator for the PAWS Pantry. There is a food pantry for the City of Frostburg on Main Street, but PAWS Pantry is exclusively for Frostburg State’s student body’s use.

At the very start of the pantry, there was no support from the Maryland Food Bank. The majority of the food was donated by staff and faculty through food drives and donations. At this point in time, the pantry was trying to take care of the individuals that were in dire need of assistance. Once the pantry was able to establish a partnership with the Maryland Food Bank, they made a decision to announce its existence to the whole FSU community. The pantry follows the Maryland Food Bank’s regulation for rotation of food items. This is a first in – first out system, in which older food items stay in the front of the pantry, and newer, more perishable items stay towards the back. The pantry just received its first shipment of food from the Maryland Food Bank this week with about 2000 pounds of food. Per month, the pantry can potentially receive 1500 to 3000 pounds. Since the recent announcement, the amount of students using the PAWS Pantry has increased significantly.

PAWS Pantry has begun to offer new and diverse services to our community. Because of this, Save-A-Lot and  Dollar General are now on the Safe Ride list. The pantry has started working with Chartwells to offer coupons for bread and milk. This recent week is the first time the pantry is offering this service. It allows for the individuals who exchange it to receive a lower price for a loaf of bread or milk at Chartwells or Chesapeake Cafeteria. Monetary donations to the foundation from faculty, staff, and alumni have made this possible. This then allows the pantry to make purchases through Chartwells for food.

Looking into the future for PAWS Pantry, food drives are going to be occurring at least once every other week in order to sustain the resource. These drives will be for items that are in greater need. Some classes have been helpful to the pantry. In particular, one of the nutrition classes on campus hosted their own food drive. Hutter also wishes to see a portion of the drive have clothes available to those who need them.

When asked if there is anything she would wish to say to the FSU community, Hutter said, “if the students come in and are happy with what they see, they should let the other students know what the [pantry] is about and what the experience is like to come in. I think there is a lot of students that are nervous about asking for help.” Hutter also wished to send her thanks to the staff members who have helped the shelves at the pantry stay stocked before the partnership with the Maryland Food Bank and how appreciative the students are.