SUNY grant program to help campuses buy refrigerators for food pantries

VESTAL, N.Y. — SUNY Chancellor Jim Malatras has announced a grant program to help SUNY campuses buy refrigerators for their food pantries to “combat food insecurity.”

It’s an “issue that’s become even more dire for students during the pandemic,” SUNY contends.

SUNY will provide grants to campuses “without the financial means or ability to procure” refrigerators in their food pantries. Student associations or campus food-pantry coordinators will be able to apply for a grant of up to $1,000 on behalf of their campus.

Jacob Eckhaus, a Binghamton University student and a member of the SUNY student voices action committee, first raised the food-refrigeration issue. Malatras formed the committee this past fall to “generate important discussions and solutions to key issues facing students,” per a SUNY news release.

As part of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s “No Student Goes Hungry” program, every SUNY campus either has a food pantry or has partnered for one. Those pantries had nearly 320,000 visits in 2019. Since the onset of the pandemic, campuses have had a “notable increase” in food-pantry usage, per SUNY.

About 50 percent of SUNY’s 64 campus food pantries are currently equipped with refrigerators, including the pantry at Binghamton University. The school’s food pantry has stayed open throughout the pandemic for students on campus and in the community “confronted with lost wages and difficulty in accessing food.” This program will make sure every campus food pantry has refrigeration.

Due to the increase in usage and to “ensure appropriate social distancing,” the Binghamton University food pantry moved to an online ordering and pick-up model in mid-April of last year. It allows any student to place an order on the food pantry’s website once a week.

Pantry staff then package the food and distribute bags to students for pick up at a prearranged time, twice a week.

The effectiveness of the food pantry during the COVID-19 pandemic has been “in large part thanks to the donations from diverse benefactors.”

Local restaurants and churches have offered support; faculty, staff, alumni and parents have provided money and goods; and students have donated leftover dining balances toward frozen meat, fish, vegetables, and dairy products supplied by Binghamton University dining services, SUNY said.