ASPSU food pantry shelves sit bare

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Portland State’s student-government-run food pantry is looking rather bare, with no more than a dozen or so food items now occupying its shelves.

To combat low inventory, the Food Systems Task Force of the Sustainability Leadership Center is putting on a canned food drive to help supply and promote the Associated Students of Portland State University’s food pantry.

“It’s not just a food drive,” said Danielle Grondin, food systems coordinator at SLC and facilitator of the task force. “It’s also an awareness campaign to let students know that there’s a pantry for them on campus, no questions asked.”

ASPSU’s pantry, which provides food to students in need, is supported entirely by donations.

Awareness of the pantry’s existence has continued to spread since it opened. The problem is that heightened awareness has increased the demand, said ASPSU communications director and task force member Anthony Stine.

The need is constant but the donations are not.

“We’re always accepting donations,” Stine said.

The food drive, which began yesterday, will run through March 15. Collection bins have been placed all over campus.

“The drive has a goal set at 500 food items,” Stine said, adding that he hopes to surpass the goal.

To illustrate just how constant the need for food items is, Stine referred to a food drive put on a couple of weeks ago by statistics professors.

For every canned food item donated, students received extra credit. By the end of the week, some 200 canned food items had been collected, but by the following Monday, all the donations had been used.

Liz Nichols, ASPSU’s food pantry coordinator, said the pantry has plenty of volunteers to keep its doors open, but keeping the shelves stocked has proven to be the biggest challenge.

“It’s really hard to get consistent food drives,” she said.

Organizers of the food drive said the event is not intended as a one-time solution; rather, the aim is to encourage students to continuously sustain the food pantry by spreading awareness of the need for donations.

A major theme of the food drive is social sustainability, according to Grondin. The task force seeks to bring awareness to this component of sustainability, which is often overshadowed by economic or environmental concerns.

ASPSU University Affairs Director Tom Worth said they are working toward creating a food drive process that would have a more lasting impact. One idea now being discussed is a monthly food drive.

“In the spirit of sustainability, the ideal goal would be that people know there’s a food pantry and continue to support its cause,” Grondin said.