The Black 14 Mind, Body, Soul Initiative and The Church of Jesus Christ Latter Day Saints teamed up to provide over 20,000 pounds of food, diapers, and cleaning supplies for the University of Wyoming food pantry.
The event took place on Thursday, November 17, in Simpson Plaza, where donations were dropped off before being moved into Knight Hall where they will be available to all students, faculty, and staff as soon as possible.
“We tried to kind of have a game plan, we knew a little bit in advance what was coming, so we tried to just be organized and get everything. I was scared that we weren’t going to be able to fit all this stuff in here, but we did it,” Izzie Jones, UW food pantry coordinator, said.
The donation day might have been a long, chilly one, but volunteers like freshman Carter Webster didn’t mind at all.
“It was a little intimidating. I think looking at all of the blocks of food and different cartons that we needed to carry, but we got through it a lot faster than I was expecting,” Webster said.
The University food pantry is a resource available to all students and staff here in Laramie. People who meet that criteria can stop by anytime during business hours and collect any food or household items they may need.
The main pantry is located in Knight hall, but there are cabinets all across campus where both UW students and staff grab supplies and go. They are filled with things like canned goods, nonperishable foods, prepackaged snacks, toiletries, and cleaning supplies.
Cabinets are also located in the Union, Corbett Hall, the engineering building, Coe Library, as well as numerous University apartments. The food pantry is adding new cabinets all the time, with the help of the UW community, where members can petition to build their own across different campus areas.
“The idea of those is meeting students where they’re at. So, if they’re in their biology class, they can just go to the biology cabinet,” Jones said.
“There’s probably 16 or 17 that we know about. It’s just like smaller versions of pantry style across campus. It is a distribution system where they can get a hold of me, make an order, and then we’ll get them any stock they’re happy with.”
