After three years since the initial launch of the food pantry on campus, the New School opened up a second food pantry location at Loeb Residence Hall on Wednesday, Oct. 2.
Both food pantries supply food provisions and other necessity-based resources to all New School students. Their main objective is to provide resources for students ‘who do not have the means to buy adequate food for themselves,” according to their mission statement.
“We decided to open a second location to accommodate the growing numbers of food pantry users,” said Andrea MacFarlane, Assistant Director of Student Support and Crisis Management. “We chose to open it in the Loeb Residence Hall because we know that about 1/4 of our food pantry users live on campus, and also because placing it in the residence hall allows for greater flexibility in terms of evening hours to accommodate varying student schedules. Loeb is also still located close enough to main campus to be convenient for non-residents as well, as this pantry is open to all New School students.”
The Loeb Food Pantry is located on 135 E 13th St and operates on Wednesdays from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m.
Zoe Flike, a Community Assistant at Loeb Hall, helps facilitate the food pantry. “The first day, 17 people showed up. We were pretty surprised,”she said.
Although the pantry is in its early stages, Flike has already seen how students have benefited from the resources. “Everyone comes in with a good attitude, the pantry helps them all,” she said. Flike realizes that some students may feel discouraged from coming, but she wants everyone to know they are welcome: “People feel like if they don’t struggle it’s wrong to go, which isn’t true.”
Students undergo an orientation presented by the Food Pantry team about the program and its amenities. The Food Pantry also requires students to fillout a demographics survey and interact with one of the Community Assistants in order to gain access to the pantry items.
Students are permitted to choose up to five fruits or vegetables, three proteins and two grains. The food pantry stocks feminine hygiene products, trash bags and toilet paper as well.
Jude Rodriguez, a student worker of both pantry locations, assists students in picking up their food. “I like that we have things for balanced meals. It’s really easy to eat cheap. If you cook, there’s value in what you put in your body,” Rodriguez said.
Although Rodriguez witnesses students utilizing the pantry, she wishes there were more members. “I like when people come in groups and make it a social thing. There shouldn’t be a stigma about using resources,” she said.
The New School Food Pantry is a free service within Student Support and Crisis Management that is offered to currently enrolled students in any school division and program. The main location is in the 12th floor café at the New School for Social Research building on 6 E 16th St. This food pantry receives approximately 35 to 40 students each week during its scheduled times.
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The New School Food Pantry’s operative team consists of four student workers and several professional staff from Residence Life, Student Health Services, and Student Support. Unlike the Loeb Food Pantry held every Wednesday, the weekly operating hours for the main food pantry vary for the Fall 2019 term.
“At this time, we offer weekly distributions at our main site at 6 East 16th Street, a weekly pre-packed bag distribution at the UC, and now weekly distributions at Loeb,” MacFarlane said.
The Loeb Food Pantry will remain the only expansion of this program as of now. “We do not have current active plans to expand further at this time, due to our recent added site,” MacFarlane said. “But we are always looking at ways to better serve students through our programs.”
There are multiple volunteer opportunities that students can participate in for these food pantries. These include becoming a cook, distributing food items and adopting the food pantry for a month. The Food Pantry is also partnered with the New School’s Share Meals app that announces events with free meals.
“Since the Food Pantry opened in April 2016, we have been a resource for students who do not have the means to buy adequate food for themselves,” MacFarlane said. “As the service has become more well-known on campus, I’ve noticed that students are more open and willing to ask for help when they need it. The Food Pantry and Student Support are committed to continuing to serve and meet the needs of students, however we can, to help them meet their basic needs.”