By Rachel Kucharski
Hood College’s Campus Cupboard provides necessities students may not have. The Cupboard was initially designed for international students but became available for all students in the spring of 2020.
The cupboard is located on the third floor of the Apple Academic Center and is open 24/7. It provides non-perishable food, toiletries and hygiene products.
Amanda Dymek, director of the health and wellness department, said she saw international students and graduate students benefit most from the Cupboard, because they may not have accounted for some of the products they would need.
Last semester there were a total of 12 people who accessed products from the Cupboard, while this semester there have been 50 people as of Nov. 6.
The Cupboard recently changed how the checkout process works. Previously, students would fill out a form online and people would gather their supplies and have them ready in a bag for students to pick up, like Instacart. Now, it’s more of a self-checkout process where students can take what they need and enter what they grabbed into a system that collects the data. This way the department can collect what students need most and supplies they can go without.
Another change made to the cupboard was a name switch. The name used to be “Hood Pantry” and changed in the fall of 2022 to Campus Cupboard after research found there was a stigma around the name pantry that could possibly make students uncomfortable when using it. Dymek said that in order for the Cupboard to gain traction, a more welcoming name was created.
The information put into the system when checking out stays anonymous. The only information asked is a user’s access to cooking supplies, whether the user is an international, graduate, or undergrad student and the amount of product taken. No personal information is included.
Anyone can use the Cupboard, but the college asks students to be respectful in getting what they need. If there is something a student is in need of that the Cupboard does not offer, there are resources available for those products on the Campus Cupboard website to assist them.
During the end of the semester, if students have extra supplies, the Cupboard encourages them to donate their items to help other people.
The Cupboard depends on donations from the Hood community and has no affiliation with external companies. If students have extra canned goods or hygiene products, they’re able to donate them to the Cupboard by leaving them with Dymek in her office located on the first floor of Apple, or the drop box by the front door of Whitaker Campus Center.
If you have any additional questions about the campus cupboard, please email:
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