Students on campus commonly visit the dining halls and Martin Luther King Jr. Union for food throughout their day, but campus has other alternatives for when those aren’t available.

The EIU Campus Food Pantry, located at 1347 McAfee Gym, is open when classes are in session and free for students. If a student is unable to visit the pantry, they can fill out an alternate pick-up form that will take one to two business days for a staff member to respond back. 

Students are allowed to make two visits month to the pantry. To get the food, you must come with your panther card and grab a piece of paper with a number on it outside of the room.  

Once your number is called you can go inside the pantry to select the food items of your choosing such as ravioli, cereal and rice. 

The pantry opened in October of 2021, and ever since then it has been helpful for plenty of students such as like sophomore early childhood major Aaliyah Cook. 

“As a student who constantly has bills to pay off, going to the pantry gives me the opportunity to save money,” said Cook. 

Crystal Brown, associate director of the office of leadership and engagement. She noticed that there was a food issue on campus and wanted to put an end to it.  

“From our research specifically on our campus and nationally, we were seeing that there was about 40% of college students experiencing food insecurity,” Brown said. 

While the pantry is open every weekday on Monday to Friday, Wednesday is special as the pantry is open from 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. and opens again from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. because Brown thought adding extra hours would be better.  

“We did add the Wednesday evening hours last spring to give that evening option for students,” Brown said. “We are already open 12 hours a week, so that gives students an opportunity to come whatever day of week works best.” 

Some students say that the hours should be much longer, like sophomore biochemistry major Jayla Singleton who believes that it would be beneficial for those who need essentials after-hours. 

“Having a pantry open at night would be cool,” Singleton said. “It would show the school’s dedication to student wellness.” 

There are also two other pantries that in the Charleston area such as Charleston Food Pantry and Standing Stone-Carpenters.

Koria Downs can be reached at 581-2812 or at kdowns@eiu.edu.