This month Behrend introduced the Lion’s Pantry which was created to help college students who do not have ample accessibility to safe and nutritious food.

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The Lion’s Pantry is an on-campus pantry which will help supplement the food budgets of college students with an assortment of food donations from community members, corporate partners and fellow peers.

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The program was funded by Penn State’s Sustainability Institute's Reinvention Fund at University Park after community members, student organizations, and nationwide statistics recognized the growing concern of hunger among college-aged students.

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The “Hunger on Campus,” reports showed that the poverty rate of students living on college campuses (52 percent) in 2015 exceeded the national poverty rate of 15.2 percent the same year. The report also showed that 57 percent of Black or African American students reported food insecurity in a 2016 study.

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However, due to the growing concern of food accessibility to college students, the number of campus food pantries have increased to over 350 since 2009, according to the “Hunger on Campus” report. Penn State is among the growing number of campuses contributing to the issue, including University Park, Brandywine, Fayette, Abbington, and now Behrend.

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Behrend Food Security Liaison and AmeriCorps VISTA member, William Taylor, addresses issues of food and security on campus and around the community. One of his duties as Food Security Liaison is to implement a food pantry to provide food for students who struggle with accessibility to food on campus.

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The national organization, The College and University Food Bank Alliance, has brought together about 590 college campuses in the last 10 years. Behrend plans to utilize this organization as a resource for the food pantry.

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“We formed a committee of different staff and faculty members who are interested in contributing to the food pantry,” said Taylor. “We hope to get student input on it as well to keep it going and expand it.”

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The trial version will continue through Feb. 16 for students who will remain on campus during Spring Break.

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“Research shows that students who are struggling to feed themselves have lower academic performance,” Taylor said. “We’re hoping part of the impact will give students one less thing to worry about.”

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Faculty and staff members contributing to the Lion’s Pantry plan to reach out to students through Student Affairs. A campus wide email will be sent out to students once the program has received a sufficient amount of donations. A discrete application form will also be provided to students, which will allow them to indicate the items they are in need of. Donation centers will be available in several campus locations, including Kochel, Junker, OBS, Smith Chapel, and the Health and Wellness Center.

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Donation items that are needed include canned goods, boxed pasta, rice, cereal, peanut butter, spaghetti sauce and granola bars. Personal hygiene items are also encouraged to be collected.

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With generous donations from the Penn State community, students in need of essential resources will be provided with a more sustainable campus environment and academic experience.