On-campus food pantries help students facing food insecurity
In an era of high inflation, food insecurity continues to grow for people throughout the country. Linfield students are no exception. In a recent survey, two in five students at Linfield reported experiencing hunger at least once a month because they couldn’t afford food. The Wildcat Food Pantry opened its doors in fall 2019 in an effort to help.
The pantry stocks more than 40 different kinds of non-perishable foods and various hygiene supplies. Students are allowed to enter once per day and take up to five items per visit. The pantry is open 24 hours per day, seven days a week. A similar space, dubbed the “Snack Shack,” is available for School of Nursing students on the Portland campus.
The demand for these resources has been immense.
The three most popular items are ramen noodles, peanut butter and granola bars. In its first six months of operations, the McMinnville campus pantry was used more than 600 times.
“During my first two years at Linfield, I would frequently visit Dillin Hall only once a day due to my meal plan or because I just didn’t have the time for breakfast or lunch due to classes or other responsibilities,” Sean Atkinson ’22 remembers. “This would result in frequent hunger and the occasional day without eating. The food pantry has opened a whole new world of sustainable and healthy food options that I can get any hour of the day for no cost.”
Alumni and local businesses have been there to meet the need of students like Atkinson. Since its start, more than 30 donors have contributed to the food pantry, raising $11,000 this year alone. People have supported the Wildcat Food Pantry through monetary donations on giving day and throughout the year, in addition to purchasing items directly off the pantry’s Amazon wish list.
Isabella Dixon ’25, an international business major from Missoula, Montana, serves as the Wildcat Food Pantry student coordinator and fills her week with shopping, inventorying products and sourcing food that accommodates all diets.
There are these heartening moments in the food pantry where students come in and thank me for stocking. And then I get to see the relief on their faces when there is a full food pantry there for them.”
– Isabella Dixon ’25, Wildcat Food Pantry student coordinator
