In an effort to ameliorate food insecurity among students, both Duke and UNC launched respective student food pantries. UNC established the Carolina Cupboard in October 2014 for undergraduate students, and has since expanded to a space double the original size. Last year, Carolina Cupboard served over 1600 items to students in need . At Duke, GPSC launched the GPSC Community Pantry in September of 2017 to provide a secure and sustainable source of nonperishable foods, childcare items, and gently-worn professional clothing to graduate and professional students in need. Since its opening in September of last year, the GPSC Community Pantry has more than tripled its operating budget as the demand for food and supplies increased nearly fifteen-fold. This budget increase has, in part, funded a weekly bag program that supplies weekly bags of food and childcare supplies to graduate and professional students who sign up for the service. Last month, this service provided bags to an average of 30 students per week from 26 different graduate and professional programs across Duke’s campus, with numbers increasing weekly. With growing demand in both institutions, we see a need to expand both efforts collaboratively, and reach out to student populations that currently cannot take advantage of these resources at our respective institutions.

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References:

Gundersen, Craig, and James Ziliak. "Food Insecurity and Health Outcomes." Health Affairs, The People-to-People Health Foundation, Inc., Nov. 2015. www.healthaffairs.org/doi/10.1377/hlthaff.2015.0645.