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News
Closed Memorial Day 5/29
The Bear Essentials Food Pantry will be closed on Monday, May 29th, for observance of the Memorial Day holiday.
HPaW-BEFP Food Drive Weight Results
A message from Jacob Christie, HPaW@Baridon Academic Director ~
After tallying the total weight from the food drive (thank you Will and your wonderful crew at the BEFP), we ended up collecting a grand total of 1,325 pounds (!!) for the HPaW Spring 2023 Bear Essentials Food Pantry Food Drive!
A big, big thank you to all that CHBS does for the UCA community, to Will Baker and the efforts of those at the BEFP, Marcus and Cort for your helping moving donations, and to Will, Laura, and Ronnie for helping keep our HPaW students informed about the effects of food insecurity. Pictures of the event are attached below. Look at the hard work of these CHBS students!
As it stands, the School of Nursing is the big winner for 2023! You will get your name etched into our Golden Bear Plaque for all to see and those delicious (no pun intended) bragging rights!
Many thanks to you all and go Bears!
-Jacob
Homecoming Food Drive Winners!
Many thanks to all the participants for their donations! Special thanks goes out to Athletics for 4 consecutive wins! The winners by category are listed below:
Homecoming Food Drive
Gather non-perishable items and deliver to the Bear Essentials Food Pantry to be weighed Thursday, October 27 between 11 am and 4 pm. Winners will be announced in the following categories: Recognized Student Organization, Non-Academic Office/Department, and Academic Office/Department.
Thank you for your support of UCA’s Food Pantry — Bears feeding Bears!
Food Drive at 10Box 2/12/22
The ladies of AKA will be hosting a food drive at 10Box Conway from 10 – 2 on Saturday, 2/12/22. 
Inclement Weather Reminder
Reminder! The Bear Essentials Food Pantry will not be open when the university is operating remotely or closed.
Food Pantry Elves!
When the Disability Resource Center (DRC) didn’t get an Angel Bear in time, they came up with a wonderful solution for their holiday giving. They decided to collect desserts for the Bear Essentials Food Pantry to add to the Angel Bear annual holiday food boxes. “Operation Sweet Tooth” was the creative brainchild of Anjanette Kerr, DRC’s Administrative Specialist. The DRC office staff passed the word throughout the Student Health Center and collected enough sweets for all 22 boxes. Thanks to this giving project, all the Angel Bear food boxes had not just meal ingredients, but cookies, brownies and cakes to make for the holidays!
The pantry’s other elves include the Staff Senate organizers of the annual canned goods collection at this year’s Winter Feast. Around 300 items were collected, totaling 243 pounds! Thank you so much to Staff Senate and everyone that contributed canned goods and funds through the online ticket purchasing site!!
The Bear Essentials Food Pantry team is filled with gratitude for all the wonderful support received from the UCA Community!
THANK YOU BEARS!!!!
Pictured: DRC student workers along with Anjanette Kerr dropping off the Operation Sweet Tooth collection at the Food Pantry.
Thank you to Green Grove Masonic Lodge #107
A big thank you to the Green Grove Masonic Lodge # 107 F. & A.M. for adopting the Bear Essentials Food Pantry as their charity of the year! They will donate over $3,000.00 by November 30, 2021.
On September 23rd lodge representatives Fred Dison (front row, right) and Shad Foley (second row, right) presented a $1,000 check to the pantry staff and volunteers. This was followed by another $1,000.00 donation on October 15. They have also agreed to sponsor our annual turkey/ham giveaway for the Thanksgiving holiday.
Their help could not have come at a better time. The number of students visiting the pantry has doubled in the past few weeks. 340 individuals visited the pantry in the month of September. 95 of them were new shoppers and we anticipate that our numbers will continue to grow.
We sincerely appreciate the members of the Green Grove Masonic Lodge for the generous support. Member Shad Foley is an officer with the UCA Police Department. We are grateful for his dedication to our UCA students to protect, serve and feed.