A growing need to provide supplemental food and other necessities to today’s university student has been determined nationally as well as at Northwestern Oklahoma State University.

For the past few months, Angelia Case, academic projects assistant and media specialist at Northwestern, along with members of the NWOSU Art Society, which she sponsors, have been the driving force to establish a campus food pantry for students and employees who need a little help each month.

The opening of the “Campus Cabinet” in room 108 of Shockley Hall on the Northwestern-Alva campus is getting closer; however, seeking monetary donations is the current focus with non-perishable food donation drives to come soon.

Anyone interested in supporting the Campus Cabinet via a monetary donation may make a tax deductible gift via the Northwestern Foundation. Checks should be payable to NWOSU Foundation and should list in the memo section “Campus Cabinet” or “NWOSU Food Pantry.” They may be mailed to 709 Oklahoma Blvd., Alva, OK 73717. Donations also may be made online via the “Donate Now” button at https://my.nwfoundation.com. Under “Designation,” please choose “Other” and type in “Campus Cabinet food pantry.” Monthly or annual gifts also may be made.

“We’re so thankful to those who already have donated to the Campus Cabinet to help us get started providing this service to our students and employees,” Case said. “We’re hoping to get all of our campus clubs, organizations and sports teams involved in fundraising and holding non-perishable food drives. It will take the entire Ranger family to make this service work year-round. Volunteers also will be needed at the campus food pantry once it opens.”

Case said that the Campus Cabinet literally got its name from initially proposing having a small “blessings box” type cabinet available to students. However, after speaking with Calleb Mosburg, dean of student affairs and enrollment management, the idea quickly grew into having a room in Shockley Hall with the support of all members of Northwestern’s senior administrative staff.

“As we continued researching campus food pantries and learning more about food insecurity, we found that membership in the College and University Food Bank Alliance (CUFBA) has grown from 15 in 2012 to more than 680 by August 2018 with these universities and community colleges establishing their own campus food pantries after determining the need,” Case said. “Northwestern became a member of CUFBA in August, and we’ve been able to learn a lot from this organization’s information.”

The U.S. Department of Agriculture defines “food insecurity” as a situation where “consistent access to adequate food is limited by a lack of money and other resources at times during the year.”

A survey of Northwestern students and employees took place toward the end of the spring 2018 semester and during the summer months providing insight for a need for a campus food pantry, and a number of individuals and campus organizations have come forward offering their help wherever needed.

Case and Mosburg also visited with Louis Garcia, who manages the Alva Wesleyan Food Bank (818 Lane St.). Garcia is supportive of a campus food pantry and said that it seems it will be helpful for students on campus who may not have a way to get to their food bank east of town.

“I understand that we won’t be able to reach out and help everyone,” Garcia said. “Your food pantry will be able to reach out to those who we can’t.”

Garcia said that the Alva Wesleyan Food Bank is open to everyone in the community, including Northwestern students and employees, who meet the income-to-number-of-household-member’s guidelines. They are open every Thursday from 3 to 6 p.m. Garcia explained that the person representing the household can come any Thursday out of the month, but only once a month, to receive one pre-packaged box of food.

Helping with the local food pantry’s operation during Fall Break provided Case an insight into how a food pantry works, and hearing the support of the volunteers there only fueled the passion for a campus food pantry even further.

“Although Northwestern’s tuition and housing costs are among the lowest in the state and nation, we know that some days some of our students and employees still struggle between paying their bills and eating a meal,” Case said. “Students with meal plans (between eight and 17 meals a week) living in university housing or those off-campus with limited budgets may struggle for meals. We hope that offering supplemental food items from the Campus Cabinet to our students and employees will help ease the worry of finding food so they may focus in classes, buy their textbooks, and work in their jobs as they try to improve their circumstances.

As plans progress for the opening of the Campus Cabinet, more information about how it will work, food drives and how others may be able to help will be provided. Additional details may be found as they develop at http://www.nwosu.edu/campus-cabinet.

Students, employees, community members, organizations, etc., who are interested in helping to volunteer, making tax deductible monetary donations via the Northwestern Foundation or donating non-perishable foods easily prepared in a university housing setting may contact Case at [email protected] or 580-327-8577 with questions.