This story was originally published in Vol. 34, Issue 4 (December 2023)
WSU Vancouver’s library has a snack program that allows students in the library to access snacks like nuts, fruit rolls, and granola bars from a basket. Recently, some students observed a reduction in the quantity of snacks allowed per person, causing some confusion among library goers.
The snack basket in the library is a promotional initiative by the Cougar Food Pantry. Josh Graisy, the program support supervisor who oversees the food pantry, explained how the resources are distributed in order to be fair to all students on campus.
“We do have a snack program as we are partnered with the library to provide students with a snack that is in a central location for students to find as easy as possible,” Graisy said. “The snack program was actually started in the science and lab building but to be more equitable we decided to move it to the library and have attracted more students. Last year was the first year of the snack program and we have definitely seen the demand go up. Which is why we have to minimize the amount of snacks students can take to ensure that students are getting the most bang for their buck and students who need the food are utilizing it.”
Carmen Herrera, program coordinator of the Cougar Center on campus, elaborated upon why the snack basket began in the lab building.
“Food insecurity is really high among college students,” said Herrera. “We were first reached out [to] by the labs here on campus because students are not allowed to bring in food to the lab, so they asked if we could provide snacks as a way of providing something for students to step out of the lab to eat something and go back in. And the library caught wind of that.”
The library snack basket’s true objective, however, is to help promote usage of the food pantry.
“We originally used it as a marketing type of tactic to also promote the food pantry, so that students would utilize our food pantry, because they can get a bag full of nonperishable items, and also obtain more than just snacks but like food and meals and other items that are nonperishable, including non-dairy milk,” Herrera said. “We wanted it to be able to help bridge that, so that students who may be utilizing and needing those snacks can then come in and use the food pantry and also utilize our fresh food events too.”
As the snack basket is a relatively new initiative, it was still finding its footing. According to Herrera, once students started grabbing handfuls at a time from the basket, it was no longer sustainable with the resources on-hand. The pantry, like other programs, needs to budget well in advance, and assistants who are often students themselves with busy schedules could only buy and deliver so many snacks to the library. As the main purpose of the snack basket was to promote the main pantry, implementing the restriction prevents the basket staying empty for days at a time. Regardless, Herrera welcomes students to submit requests to the Cougar Food Pantry.
“I feel that it’s one of those resources that students just don’t really realize is available to them,” said Herrera. “The more people that utilize it, the more funding we’re gonna get to be able to offer these kinds of programs and offer these, like snacks for example, for the library…. It’s really important that we have people signing up and using the forms.”
While submitting a form and scheduling a time to pick up a bag of food isn’t as quick or convenient as grabbing a few snack packets from a basket, snacks can be provided within the larger bag, and students may also request specific items. The food pantry on the campus was originally started in 2012 as a way to combat food insecurity amongst students who were facing economic hardship. Graisy detailed the organization’s mission.
“The mission of the food pantry is to make sure that students are worried about their studies and not hunger, as well as mitigating hunger as much as possible amongst the student body on campus,” Graisy said.
While the pantry itself is not student run, students do play a vital role in the overall success of the pantry when it comes to the financial aspect of keeping the pantry going.
“Part of the funding comes from SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) fees, so it’s kind of an insurance program that students pay into and we get a good amount of food from donors,” said Graisy. “During [COVID-19] we received quite a few donations from bigger named donors within the community.”
Even as certain measures are put in place by both programs in order to be fair, both the food pantry and the snack program in the library continue to serve students, in the hopes of reducing food insecurity and supporting student success on and off campus. WSU Vancouver Sophomore Michael McCann expressed his support for the food pantry as a student resource.
“It’s a great resource for students dealing with food insecurity especially in the Clark County area who can’t afford certain groceries so students shouldn’t have to go out of their way to find food, and I think every college campus should have a food pantry as long as it is meeting the needs of the student body,” said McCann. “Depending on the needs of the student body I definitely think there should be more money allocated to the food pantry but I think the first step is just getting the word out.”
Jordhen Wangchuk, a staff writer of The VanCougar, contributed to this report.