Did you know that “Food Pantry” has become a common way of saying “food bank”?
When it comes to food security, Colorado has several programs to help ensure no one goes hungry. There are so many programs dedicated to feeding Coloradans. A few you might’ve heard of would include programs such as: Food Banks of the Rockies, Feeding Colorado, Community Food Share, Weld Food Bank, the Food Bank for Larimer County, Care and Share, or Hunger free Colorado. All of these are non profit organizations created to alleviate the food insecurity in Colorado.
These programs take millions of donated food items and redistribute them across to their local food pantries and food banks all over the mountain state. However, these are only just a handful of the organizations striving to feed Colorado.
If you, a friend or loved one are facing challenges with food insecurity or you’re just a young college kid who wants to save money on food, you can locate a local food pantry or food bank in your area online. One way to find a food pantry or food bank in your area is use the “Food Pantry Locator” on “the Food Banks of the Rockies” website (https://www.foodbankrockies.org). Once there you can see where the closest food pantry to you is by using an address or zip code. You’ll see how there are tons of food banks in Colorado and you may even find one at your local church.
If you’re a student at FRCC, however, finding a food bank near you is even easier than you think! This is because FRCC is proud to offer its very own food pantry (or food bank) right on campus known as “The Pantry,” where students are not only welcome to order and pick from a healthy selection of foods they need for free but encouraged to order once every week! Located in the Wolf Life office, all you need is to be a student of FRCC and have an S number to apply!
Applying for the Pantry is easy, even if you’re the type to think it can be intimidating to seek public resources. Why not pick up your groceries from the friendly face of someone you might already know, who’s more than happy to help?
One of those friendly faces might just happen to be Mrs. Rachel Emory, a Graphic Design turned Nursing student at Front Range. She is the student coordinator of service who’s worked for nearly two years reorganizing, stocking, and running the Pantry, making sure every order gets fulfilled! Emory described how what she liked best about working in the food pantry is “the people who come in on a regular basis … we form relationships with them” and how “Getting to know people is the best part of the job.”
Whenever you hear someone say, “We have a food pantry right on campus!”, what they really mean is that with your student S number you have access to a whole food bank, no questions asked! All of this food right from your fingertips. All for being a student at Front Range Community College! This applies to all FRCC campuses. So no matter which campus you find yourself on, you have access to all the snacks.
According to Emory, “You can use the Pantry no matter what! You don’t have to prove to us where you live or if you’re in need of financial [aid]. That doesn’t matter. As long as you’re a student at Front Range you can use the Pantry.” All you have to do is fill out a form online to register for an account number, you can find this form on their website, then wait up to 48 hours for a confirmation. Once you’ve been approved you have instant access to a variety of food from the Food Pantry and can start your order.
Every week you have the chance to order from a wide selection of yummy snacks, foods, and personal care items, (updated frequently) all from their order form which they will send you via email. When asked, Emory did state that the foods are updated frequently and that students can even make suggestions for foods that are needed in the Pantry.
When asked what her favorite food item she’s seen in the pantry was, she responded, “Unfortunately we don’t do this anymore, because Front Range cut the sponsorship with it, but we used to get food from Starbucks! Yeah! That was really fun! But I think some of our fruits are my favorite. I really love pineapple: we do get a lot of pineapple chunks.”
Emory continued, “usually, around Thanksgiving and holiday time we do a lot of, not gift baskets, but food baskets for our Pantry participants so they can get things like a turkey, and cornbread, and green beans, and stuff like that. So I think that’s really cool!”
Clearly, there is a variety of foods to choose from when you make an order in the Pantry and they make sure to have what you need. Once your order has been submitted, a team of Student Life workers and faculty prepare your order so that it’s ready to be picked up from the Pantry in the Student Life office at your preferred scheduled time. If you forget to pick it up, no worries – they’ll hold your order for up to 48 hours.
Emory also noted in our interview that, “We do have a Clothing Closet [where] you also do not need to prove need! So if you need clothes we can provide clothes.” With the hopes of feeding large numbers of FRCC students, The Pantry is doing their part in helping feed (and clothe) bright minds all over Colorado.
