Organizers of Pop-up Pantry Help Students Facing Hunger

By Jamie Rogers A graduate student known for being a force for good on the George Mason University campus has created a pop-up food pantry for students in need. Yara Mowafy, a University Life graduate research assistant, along with Michael Galvin, director of technology integration in the Division of University Life, started the food pantry in Student Union I in December, just before winter break. <div id="attachment_38963" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignright"><a href="http://newsdesk.gmu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/150302001-1.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-38963" src="http://newsdesk.gmu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/150302001-1-300x197.jpg" alt="Graduate student Yara Mowafy and University Life employee Michael Galvin started a food pantry for needy students on campus in Sub I. Photo by Evan Cantwell" width="300" height="197"/></a>Graduate student Yara Mowafy and University Life employee Michael Galvin started a food pantry for needy students on campus in Sub I. Photo by Evan Cantwell</div> Galvin and Mowafy are currently conducting research and interviews on the home and food insecurities of Mason students. The team says the idea of a food pantry grew out of that research. However, because of protocol sampling processes and methodology, pantry visitors won’t be used in their research, Galvin says. One of the students they interviewed mentioned she needed a winter coat, so they decided to have a coat drive, says Mowafy, who is working on a master’s degree in global affairs. “It sort of just evolved from there. We had staff and students bringing in food and other kinds of clothes, school supplies and shoes, and it just popped up,” Mowafy says of the pantry. Donations from food drives held by New Century College and the Rappanhannock Neighborhood on the Fairfax Campus are what initially stocked the pantry, she says. <div id="attachment_38966" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><a href="http://newsdesk.gmu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/150302005-1.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-38966" src="http://newsdesk.gmu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/150302005-1-300x200.jpg" alt="Yara Mowafy started a food pantry for needy students on campus in Sub I. Photo by Evan Cantwell" width="300" height="200"/></a>Yara Mowafy started a food pantry for needy students on campus in Sub I. Photo by Evan Cantwell</div> Right now the pantry is well stocked, but there are plans in the works to harvest nonperishables from the Patriot Pack Out, a program that allows students to drop off items they may otherwise leave behind when they leave the residence halls at the end of the school year. Mowafy says the pantry is also open to Mason staff and faculty and wants it to be able to accommodate visitors with religious or medical dietary restrictions. “We have a student who has an allergy to a certain preservative. When you are dealing with canned foods, all of them have preservatives,” Mowafy says. She reached out to religious organizations on campus, specifically the <a href="http://hillel.gmu.edu/2011/04/28/hello-world/">George Mason Hillel Center</a>, for help meeting religious dietary restrictions. “They sent one of their administrative professionals over to check the pantry and label everything that is kosher,” Mowafy says. Galvin and Mowafy say Hillel staff went a step further and trained them how to identify kosher items. The items are kept on a separate shelf, Mowafy says. Kosher toiletries have also been requested, she says. In addition to being sensitive to students’ dietary needs, Galvin and Mowafy say they are sensitive to the feelings of those who seek services. The pantry is by appointment only and identification isn’t checked. Mowafy says she allows only one student in the pantry at a time to protect privacy. “I think they begin trusting you. They trust that there are no questions asked and they are comfortable. It’s safe space,” she says. It also helps that the pantry is not in the middle of a high traffic area, says Brent Ericson, the assistant dean of students and a representative of the Office of Student Support, a resource clearinghouse that refers students to campus resources. Some students have visited more than once. The reasons for hardships vary, Galvin says. “Our research is showing students are having these experiences of homelessness or home insecurity and hunger to a greater extent than we want to believe,” Galvin says. “There are life events that lead people to find other solutions for housing and eating.” One of the first places a student in need should visit is the Office of Student Support, Galvin says. The office administers the <a href="http://newsdesk.gmu.edu/2013/12/student-meal-assistance-fund-finds-supporters-across-campus/">Student Meal Assistance Fund</a>, which was started, by Mowafy and fellow Mason student Jordan Bivings in 2013 while they were undergraduates. The fund is supported by Sodexho, the company that administers Mason Dining Services. The funds pay for one-time vouchers for one of the campus all-you-can-eat restaurants, Ericson noted. To date, the fund has issued more than 300 meal vouchers to students, Mowafy says.