Behind the scenes of the SBU Food Pantry

Sarah Haq, a senior accounting major from Allegany, New York, chose St. Bonaventure University for its great accounting program and the fact that being close to home saved money on room and board. Understanding the burdens that the cost of being a college student can bring on a person, Haq has spent the last two years volunteering and working at Bonaventure’s student food pantry.

Haq first heard about the food pantry during her freshman year in SBU 101. Alice Miller Nation came into the class and told them about the Warming House, Bona Buddies, Silver Wolves and the food pantry, which was new at the time. Starting in 2018, the food pantry was only a year old when Haq learned about it.

During Haq’s freshman year, she did not get involved with many on campus activities because she wanted to focus on her school work. In her sophomore year, everything shut down due to Covid-19 and she wanted to get more involved. Her peer coach was one of the coordinators at the food pantry, so Sarah asked if she was looking for volunteers.

Located in room 114 of the McGinley-Carney Center for Franciscan Ministry, the pantry is open Monday through Thursday from 4 to 8 p.m. and Friday from 4 to 6 p.m. Students, staff and faculty all have access. Guests can take five items Monday through Thursday and seven on Friday so they have food for the weekend.

Volunteers work two-hour shifts. They bring their computers to log food on a Google Sheet and can also answer questions. A lot of volunteers like it because it is a really nice place to get homework done, says Haq.

“It is a very easy thing and it also looks great on a résumé,” said Haq.

Volunteers can also take a leadership role and become coordinators. There are currently six coordinators. Their responsibilities include scheduling volunteers, shopping for food to go into the pantry and making posters to post around campus and on the Notice Board to inform students about the pantry.

The food pantry is strictly donation based. Most of its funding comes from the #GivingTuesday@Bona’s initiative, with Family Weekend being the second largest source. Parents visit and are generous. This year they donated more than $320. The money raised through these different events gets added to the food pantry budget. To buy the food, coordinators have a credit card they sign out with Miller Nation. They go shopping about twice a month and have to stick to the budget while also taking into account what guests want. Favorites include pasta, spaghetti sauce, mac and cheese, granola bars and frozen meals.

To Haq, the food pantry is there to make peoples' lives on campus a little bit easier. Whether it be saving time on grocery shopping, providing a break from the Hickey Dining Hall or helping broke college students have a little more in their pockets, at the end of the day, the food pantry is there to help the Bonaventure community.

“That is the point of the food pantry,” said Haq. “We are there to be one less stressor in someone’s life. We are not going to solve world hunger, but we can at least provide a supplement to people's problems.”

Article and photos by Elizabeth Egan, '23

Elizabeth Egan is a third-year journalism student, graduating early with the Class of 2023. Having worked at the FCSC’s soup kitchen and Warming House since her first year at Bonaventure, she is familiar with the benefits the FCSC can have on the community and the students. She uses that familiarity along with her developing journalism skills to tell the stories of the FCSC and its student volunteers. After graduation, Elizabeth hopes to work as a reporter and is beginning to seek out jobs at a number of newspapers and online publications. You can contact Elizabeth at eganea20@bonaventure.edu with any questions about her work.