Tarleton Food Pantry offers temporary hunger relief

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Everett Meade JTAC News

Payton Robb, Contributor

The Tarleton State University Food Pantry offers confidential and discreet service to the Stephenville campus community.

It provides a 2-3 days’ worth food supply per client each visit to anyone needing assistance. It is open 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. every Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, and is located Room 103A in the Barry B. Thompson Student Center.

“The food pantry is a resource for students,” Community Relations officer and food pantry volunteer Sue Goodman said. “It makes food more available for those who need it.”

The food pantry opened in the fall of 2015 and has had a major impact on students.

“It is safe to say that the food bank has helped hundreds of students since it opened,” Goodman said. “We can measure the impact it has made through the gratitude the students express.”

Goodman has been volunteering at the food bank since its inception.

“I was once a hungry student while I was completing my graduate work,” she said. “I started volunteering because I wanted to give back and help other students.”

Along with other volunteers, Goodman stocks shelves, organizes the donations, checks expiration dates and guides students through the little paperwork that is involved.

Each volunteer shift is an hour long. Goodman rotates with a team of five individuals to work every Monday from 1:00 to 2:00.

“During my free time, I enjoy remodeling my house,” Goodman said. “I am also an advisor for the Tarleton Ambassadors.”

The food bank gives the Tarleton family an opportunity to help other people.

“At the beginning of the semester, the faculty and staff held a ‘Teaching Trot’ in Wisdom Gym,” Goodman said. “In order to engage in the 2.017-mile walk/run, participants had to make a donation to the food pantry.”

The food pantry is asking for more specific nonperishable items such as canned chicken, packaged fruit, rice, potato, granola, protein and breakfast bars; however, all donations are welcome.

“When we get more than we can use, we donate it to H.O.P.E., a non-profit organization that helps the Stephenville community,” Goodman said. “Nothing ever goes to waste.”

In the future, the pantry staff hopes to expand their space and receive capability for refrigeration, but for now, they will continue to make a difference for the students of Tarleton.

“Food insecurity is not something you can see,” Goodman said. “You never know who is hungry and in need of help. So, if you’re hungry, come on in to the food pantry.”