Summer is usually the leanest time of year at NC State’s Feed the Pack food pantry.
With fewer students on campus, faculty and staff focused on vacations and research in the field and a slower pace all around, it is difficult to keep up with the pantry’s needs in providing food for the 30 to 40 visits it gets per month during the summer.
The two-and-a-half-year-old pantry, operated by a volunteer staff, was originally housed in Harrelson Hall, but recently moved to 127 Carmichael Recreation Center in advance of Harrelson’s pending demolition. It provides free food for NC State employees and students in need.
Next week, the pantry hopes to be fully restocked with items from its inaugural Sponsor a Shelf program, in which more than 40 campus organizations have pledged to provide all required amounts of a specific food or personal care item. For more about the program, contact feedthepackpantry@ncsu.edu.
Still, there are immediate needs for certain non-perishable items, including beverages, condiments, canned fruit, breakfast/snack items, grains and personal hygiene. Summer harvest items, unfortunately, cannot be donated because of a lack of refrigeration at the pantry.
There is also a need for volunteers during summer hours, especially next week when the pantry collects its first haul from the Sponsor a Shelf program. Staff and employees can use community service leave to participate.
The pantry’s summer hours are Tuesdays 2-4 p.m., Thursdays 4-6 p.m. and Fridays 2-4 p.m.
For more information about the pantry, follow its Facebook page for advance notice about collection opportunities and for notification of urgent needs.
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