Class of 2022 Set to Pack the Pantry
[lead]The incoming Class of 2022 could set a major service record before even stepping foot in a classroom at NC State. [/lead]
To help stock the Feed the Pack Food Pantry, which recently relocated from Broughton Hall to the Honors and Scholars Village Commons, the Class of 2022 has been invited to help “Pack the Pantry” on the day of New Student Convocation. Each student has the opportunity to bring in a bag of non-perishable food or personal hygiene products and drop them off outside Reynolds Coliseum before the event. The previous record for a Feed the Pack Food Pantry food drive was 1,800 pounds. If every first-year student attending Convocation brings just one pound of donations, that record would be more than doubled in one day.
[major-link url=”https://dasa-ncstate.smugmug.com/Feed-the-Pack-Food-Pantry/” target=”_blank”]See photos from the Feed the Pack Food Pantry move to Honors and Scholars Village Commons[/major-link]
First-year students will also have the opportunity to hear Dr. Kathryn J. Edin, one of the authors of this year’s Common Reading $2.00 a Day: Living on Almost Nothing in America, speak at the annual event. $2.00 a Day shines a light on the effects of poverty, homelessness, and hunger on our society and will be used as a jumping off point to discuss the same issues NC State faces throughout the year in classrooms and campus programming.
Bringing in the Community
In addition to first-year students participating in the Pack the Pantry drive, the NC State will be asking the neighborhood around campus to participate in addressing food insecurity on campus. On Friday, August 17, volunteers will canvas the area behind Hillsborough Street, dropping off grocery bags that neighbors can fill with items for the food pantry. On August 25, filled bags can be left on front porches to be picked up and delivered to campus.
Food and Housing Security at NC State
The selection of $2.00 a Day as the Common Reading for 2018 was a timely choice, as a recent study of NC State students showed that 14% of NC State students were food insecure in the past 30 days and 9.6% had experienced homelessness in the past year. A team of NC State researchers, staff, and students came together in 2017 to explore what food and housing security issues might be impacting NC State students, and through the Pack Essentials webpage, existing programs, and exploring ideas through a new advisory group on campus, the university working to end food and housing insecurity at NC State.
