My team was given the task to find a story based off of the prompt “Making a Difference.” We came across Rev. Doug Hale and his mission to provide food for students in Eugene. All video and interview footage as well as photos were collected and edited by our group of three people.
Lets Eat!
Eugene Student Food Pantry making a difference each bite at a time
The brisk winter air, on a Thursday afternoon, seems especially chilling as students wait patiently for the Eugene Student Food Pantry to lift its doors for service. On this particular day the sun has come out despite the fact it is the middle of January. A sudden shift in weather seems to put a smile on each of the students’ faces as they wait on the sidewalk with bags in hand. It could be the sunshine in January altering the mood or the fact that each student is minutes away from receiving a bagful of delicious food.
At the corner of 19th Avenue and Onyx Street sits a quaint home with a small garage beside it, above the garage hangs a large but simple sign reading Student Food Pantry. For most students the garage represents much more than a food pantry but a symbol of hope and reassurance that good does preside in the small college town of Eugene, Oregon.
The Eugene Student Food Pantry opened in the fall of 2011 with the help of the Episcopal Campus Ministry in hopes that a handful of students from the University of Oregon and other surrounded colleges would recognize its existence and come to the pantry to receive free food each Thursday afternoon. For those involved in the opening, they were astonished by the instant success. Students who have attended each Thursday often times are struggling to afford the cost of tuition, housing, textbooks and other necessities. The Student Food Pantry helps to ease the pain of hunger as a result of the ever-increasing cost of college. Students simply need to provide volunteers with their student I.D. card at the entry of the pantry.
The current pantry director Reverend Doug Hale came to Eugene in the spring of 2013. Since his time at the pantry, Hale has seen a tremendous increase in students looking to use the pantry. According to the Student Food Pantry Facebook page, last winter term they served 40 students each week. In the spring the number grew to 60 students each week. Due to the increase of students, the pantry partnered with Food for Lane County in order to accommodate the large numbers.
“I knew it was going to grow, I anticipated that but I didn’t know it was going to grow that much,” reflects Hale.
Food for Lane Country began in 1984 out of a small house in Springfield. With only one staff person, one volunteer, and five board members the food bank distributed 2 million pounds of food. That year the food bank served 43,000 Lane County residents. (http://www.foodforlanecounty.org/en/about_us/about_fflc1/) The success of Food for Lane County has contributed to the success of the Student Food Pantry.
In addition to the help from Food for Lane County, the pantry receives weekly food and financial donations from individuals as well as other Episcopal churches at the university. The pantry offers a wide variety of food, which allows students to eat nutrient rich diets.
Students that walk through the garage will see the “carb” shelf with many different types of bread, including ciabatta, sourdough and whole-wheat rolls. Each week a different perishable item is featured in the middle of the pantry. There also is fresh food in the refrigerators. Nancy’s Yogurt, a local dairy company, donates a large amount of yogurt to Lane County. Students are able to choose from popular flavors of Nancy’s yogurt.
“It’s been a lot of an organizational task, about how to do this in an efficient way and really make it work,” says Hale.
Although the food pantry continues to grow and feed more students each week, there are returning customers that have been there since the beginning. One student by the name of Karinda Farley came to the Student Food Pantry as a sophomore in 2012. Farley financially supports herself while in college. With a job and classes she often does not have the money or the time to get the food she needs. The pantry has provided Farley with the food and support she needs as a student at the University of Oregon.
“As a student who has been on their own since 18, I’ve learned that there isn’t a lot of support out there for students like me,” says Farley. “The government continues to judge me based on my parents income (who don’t support me financially whatsoever) and so I don’t qualify for much, except for loans that barely cover my tuition for a year. I felt really alone my freshman year because of these circumstances. When I learned about the food pantry I felt like I could finally get the help that I needed. And it made me feel a little less alone and a little less scared.”
As a volunteer to hear personal stories like Farley’s makes work meaningful and worthwhile. Volunteers go through a brief orientation to commit themselves to a non-discrimination policy as well as a small orientation about food safety issues.
“I mean it’s an interesting process with the volunteers because each term people’s schedules change and some who have been really committed can’t do it anymore,” says Hale.
The success of the pantry brings mixed emotions to both Rev. Hale and the volunteers. Although they are overwhelming filled with joy in the thought of helping those in need, they worry that if the numbers continue to grow there will not be enough food to feed the students who rely on the pantry. As a result there has been discussion about moving the location of the pantry out of the garage to a bigger facility.
As for now the Student Food Pantry continues to be open every Thursday from 4 pm to 6 pm. Rain or shine the pantry opens its door to all in need of food. Rev. Hale welcomes both new and old customers to the garage to experience all the pantry has to offer.
“It just helps me understand how important this is for some of them, were really filling a major gap for some of the students,” reflects Hale.
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