Photo and story by Saki Kambe
Peninsula College Officials announced that the first ever food pantry – discussed for three years – may happen as soon as Fall Quarter 2019. Jack Huls, the Vice President of Student Services, VPFA, stated that it will be located in the University Center, P Building. Huls serves on the Peninsula College Space Needs Committee along with the director of Facilities Planning and Operations, Patty McCray-Roberts.
The committee is under the VPFA, Vice President of Financial Administration office; the office is headed currently by interim VPFA Carie Edmiston.
President Luke Robins was hoping to have the Food Pantry open during the spring quarter, but even though the survey to ensure that the pantry meets students’ needs came out at the end of the winter quarter, the process of finalizing the logistics is taking more time.
“We are working to finalize a site, a business plan, and a partnership with the Port Angeles Food Bank. We are still hoping for a Fall Quarter 2019 rollout,” Rick Ross, the Associate Dean of Athletics and Student Programs said.
“The need is apparent, but it’s a big undertaking and something we wanted to be sure we could do well and sustain,” Ross said. Ross also said that there are challenges in taking a new initiative due to the college being small. “We are a small college and our employees are at capacity trying to serve students.”
“Peninsula College is committed to bringing the food pantry to our students,” Kari Collen, the Associate Dean for Enrollment Services said.
With this fall launch planned, it will be the 2019-2020 academic year Associated Student Council members that will be working along with Student Services and faculty for this pantry’s inauguration.
“Food insecurity is a lot more serious than most college administrations believe,” said Monica Lundberg, the Program Manager at the Office of Student life in South Seattle College. The Food Panty was founded in 2017. Lundberg said that they had discussed having a pantry for about 10 years, and it took over a year to allocate the resources, mainly funding.
On a related note, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo in New York State mandated last August, that 100 percent of all New York State public colleges will have a food pantry or stigma-free food access for students in need by the end of the Fall 2018 Semester.
“Hunger should never be a barrier for those seeking to achieve their dreams of a higher education,” Governor Cuomo said.