Northern Michigan University Food Pantry stocks up using student donations

The Northern Michigan University Food Pantry partnered with NMU Dining Services to encourage students to donate the unused portion of their Dining Dollars, coinciding with the NMU Day of Giving in December. Students using a meal plan received an email notifying them of a convenient option through the GET Mobile app to donate some or all of their remaining funds to the campus' food pantry. Promotion materials for the program were also posted around campus and on social media platforms. In March, the food pantry was able to use the donations to purchase food pantry supplies in bulk, saving money and increasing the amount of students it will be able to serve.

The idea for the initiative was developed in April 2020 by Jacob McCann, a social work major at NMU. McCann realized he would not be able to use the money he had left in his account for meals and contacted the food pantry to see if they could use the money. The idea gained steam and developed into a campus-wide initiative this year. NMU published a news release detailing what the food pantry was able to with the $5,400 raised. Paul Schoonveld, director of Dining Services at NMU, explained how his department was able to use its connections to secure the best deals, "Through our vendor H.T. Hackney, we came up with a shopping spreadsheet of more than 1,000 items the pantry could choose from and used our purchasing power to get the best price. Most of the items were delivered this week; the final amount will be used to buy specialty items for students with special dietary needs."

Haley Rhoades of the Dean of Students Office oversees the operation of the food pantry. She spoke about the collaboration between the pantry, Dining Services, and generous students, "It's wonderful that so many currently enrolled students were able to make a difference. The effort raised resources to buy needed products, but it also raised awareness of the pantry, which residence hall students don't need now, but may in the future when they're living off campus. And by working through Dining Services' vendor, we were able to procure different items than we would normally stock at the pantry."

Rhoades also noted that the amount donated by the students surpassed expectations, "We were expecting students to share about $2,000. It was fun because I received a notification every time students shared their Dining Dollars, and my phone started lighting up more than I expected. The students really impressed us with their generosity."

The Northern Michigan University Food Pantry is open for pickup Wednesdays and Thursdays from 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM in Gries Hall for the winter semester. Students in need should place orders by Tuesday afternoons.