The Bear Essentials Food Pantry Celebrates 10 Years
Arkansas has the nation’s highest rate of food insecurity, according to a recent study by the U. S. Department of Agriculture. To help tackle this issue, the University of Central Arkansas offers the Bear Essentials Food Pantry to combat hunger in our campus community.
Walking into the Bear Essentials Food Pantry, located at the Physical Plant, one can see and smell fresh bananas, apples and more in baskets on a nicely finished centralized table. Volunteers stock shelves with canned goods, cereal and pasta while industrial-sized refrigerators hum as they hold eggs, milk and more fresh items. It is a bright place welcoming students, faculty and staff to shop without worrying about price during a time of increased food costs and insecurity. This vital service continues to impact campus through continued donations, partnerships and volunteerism.
This year marks the food pantry’s 10th anniversary, and its progress from a closet to a bustling center shows the dedication of UCA’s campus community to ensure there are no hungry bears.
“Since 2014, the goal of the Bear Essentials Food Pantry has been to combat food insecurity among the UCA community,” said Wendy Holbrook, UCA’s assistant vice president of engagement, leadership and service.
The Bear Essentials Food Pantry opened in 2014, in Old Main because the founders of the pantry—Brian James, Reesa Ramsahai, Marvin Williams and Melissa Shock—recognized the problem of food insecurity on campus. A student had met with Williams in the Academic Advising Center and had stated she’d “had little to nothing to eat the last couple of days,” so he took her to the cafeteria and paid for her meal.
After that, James and others on campus started food drives which evolved into James’ idea to have a food pantry on campus. As the birthplace of the pantry, the room at Old Main served campus well from 2014 to 2020, but more space was needed, so it moved to the Physical Plant where it has continued to see increased need.
The pantry served more than 400 individuals in the first full month of the fall 2023 semester, an increase of more than 29% from the same time period in 2022. Since August 2023, 279 new people have registered to use the pantry.
According to USDA guidelines, a meal equals 1.2 pounds of food and grocery products. In August, 326 students and employees received 7,000 pounds of food. In October 2023 alone, there were 728 visits by individuals from UCA’s campus community needing food assistance. The total number of visits in the year 2023 was 6,338, an increase of more than 23%.
The success of the pantry over the last decade is attributed to the generosity of the UCA community and partnerships with Aramark, Arkansas Food Bank, the Green Bear Coalition and more from across campus and the surrounding community to help make all of this possible. The most recent partnership with Aldi provides much-needed fresh produce, including apples, bananas, pears and more.
The surrounding community also provides great assistance through partnerships. In addition to Aldi, the Arkansas Hunger Alliance also donates food. Conway Morning Rotary adopted the pantry’s tuna shelf this year. Others, including Kroger and ADHE make monetary donations for the purchase of foods and products. KidzWorld Childcare sends weekly milk donations.
The food pantry is run completely by donations and volunteers. Donated refrigerators and freezers make it possible to keep eggs, milk, meats, and fruits and vegetables available. Monetary donations also make it possible for the pantry to purchase foods and products their customers need at a discounted rate.
A UCA ID is required but only to record the number of visitors on a particular day. Shopping bags are provided as customers enter. Volunteers keep food records by recording the bags’ weight once the shoppers finish so transactions are anonymous. Unlike many other food banks, shoppers are able to choose the items needed.
The mindful recycling and reusing of materials also play a major role in what the food pantry does. If there is ever fresh food that goes beyond its expiration date, it is sent to be used as compost for campus gardens which, in turn, grow fresh produce that goes back to the pantry. Materials such as baskets, paint, shelves, plexiglass and other building materials are all repurposed and used to make the space welcoming; a space meant to show respect for the customers or shoppers who frequent it.
The food pantry’s impact has been felt by a wide range of people on campus, especially students.
“UCA’s food pantry has helped me get to senior year. Sometimes funds are tight in college and I depend on this resource to get my next meal. Without it, I don’t know what I’d do,” said Abby, a senior at UCA.
“The pantry has been very useful. It seems like a haven for many students, including myself. Having access to food is extremely important as it impacts everything,” added Casey, another student.
Will Baker, the pantry’s coordinator, sees the impact being made every day. “Knowing that we’re making a difference not only on campus but in our community,” is his favorite part of being coordinator. “One student described his situation to me and said he doesn’t know what he’d do without the pantry, so that feeling of knowing that you helped that person speaks volumes of how important this resource is,” Baker said.
While it has grown in the past decade, the need still persists. Food drive events throughout the year across campus include the Annual Homecoming Food Drive, the annual staff Winter Feast and Spring Pie-in-the-Face, UCA’s annual Day of Giving, Student Government Association drives, departmental contributions and more. Fresh produce is contributed by the Green Bear Coalition garden on campus. Aramark donates fresh produce, bread and cereal.
Help also comes from generous alumni donors such as Sue Voegele ’62, who, upon hearing about the Bear Essentials Food Pantry in 2021, decided she wanted to donate to help feed hungry bears. Voegele said, “I heard a talk about it and said, ‘Oh! I want to help with that!’”
Faculty and staff, through planned annual giving, may join the Torchbearers to contribute funding through one-time donations or continued payroll deductions.
“It’s great to know that the UCA Bear Essentials Food Pantry is helping students and colleagues that we see every day – and knowing that this resource would also be available to us if we need it! Supporting the pantry is a simple and easy way to make a tangible, positive impact on the UCA community,” said Jeffrey Padberg, a biology professor.
The Bear Essentials Food Pantry’s mission is clear: to have no hungry bears on campus. The legacy is one best expressed by Baker, “I hope that our legacy will be that we did everything we could and helped everyone we could with what we had. I hope that everyone that comes through these doors feels welcomed and understands that we are one big family!”
For more information on how to support the Bear Essentials Food Pantry in the fight against hunger, visit uca.edu/foodpantry.