UC Berkeley Food Pantry
Maggie, a 4th year UC Berkeley student majored in Linguistics, entered #86 MLK Student Union.

Volunteer from UC Berkeley Food Pantry welcomed her with big smile: “Welcome!The foods here are all free and you can pick 5 items per visit!”
In the room,the shelves were stacked with different kinds of food: Pasta, bread, apple juice, Tomato Basil Sauce and so on. There were also vegetables and pizza in the fridge.





Maggie selected the food she needed and leave Food Pantry. She said, “I visit here twice a month. I really love it when they have chicken apple sausages. Their food is health conscientious, and a lot of it is vegan or vegetarian so it’s nice when they have meat.”
The UC Berkeley Food Pantry is a direct response to the need among the student population for more resources to fight food insecurity — the lack of nutritious food.

Taylor Harvey, Food Pantry Coordinator, said: “In Food Pantry, mostly are volunteer works. We also run almost entirely on donations.” Food Pantry gain support from partners: UC Berkeley Food Security Committee, Community Partners and Student Organization Partners.

With rising fees, textbook costs, and living expenses, it has become increasingly difficult for students to juggle the costs of living with the costs of obtaining a university degree, and thus many students are finding themselves choosing between essentials such as food and the costs of college.

Statistics have shown……

Nearly 20% of students reported experiencing very low food security. Food insecure students were more likely to seek free food and purchase fast food than food secure students.
Students report cost, preparation, and time as challenges to accessing food. So, food insecure students more likely to have lower grades and suspend studies compared to food secure students. And what’s more important, compared to food secure students, food insecure students more likely to prioritize cost over the healthfulness of food.
Students, particularly those who are food insecure, would like more information about how to improve food resources.
The UC Berkeley Food Pantry was established to provide emergency relief to help students continue on to successfully complete and obtain their degrees from the University of California. It is a part of the campuswide food security efforts.

When she was asked her experience with Food Pantry, Maggie said: “Maggie said: “Really positive. Otherwise I wouldn’t really have a lot of food to it during school years honestly. Like right now my fridge is basically empty except the stuff I’ve got from Food Pantry.”
Sammy Mehtar, the Resource Development Coordinator, said: “During the last three years, we were working really hard to institutionalize comprehensive food security model.”