Seawolf Food Pantry moves into new location

The Seawolf Food Pantry moved into a new location at the beginning of the fall semester. The pantry is now located on the second floor of the Professional Studies Building — shortened to PSB — Room 211.

In an interview with The Northern Light, pantry director Amanda Walch said the new space is an improvement over its old location, also located in the PSB. She said the new space is twice the size of their previous location, and that it feels brighter and more inviting than their old space did.

Walch said having an inviting place is part of their effort to destigmatize coming to a food pantry. She explained that they ended up with the original space because it was what was available at the time.

“We knew it was going to be tight, but still, it was great to have a space, and we functioned out of there,” Walch said.  

The Seawolf Food Pantry opened informally in March 2022, and officially opened in the fall semester later that year. The pantry was established by faculty with the Dietetics and Nutrition program.

The food pantry, along with the Emergency Food Cache at the Student Health and Counseling Center — abbreviated to SHCC — allows students to access non-perishable food. 

It’s an important resource on a campus where many students face food insecurity. According to a  2019 study done by UAA faculty Kathi Trawver and Travis Hedwig that surveyed UAA students, over 44% of respondents experienced some type of food insecurity.

UAA Students can use the food pantry twice a month, and can get food and personal hygiene items for households of up to four people. 

Now that the food pantry has settled into the new location, they’re looking for ways to serve more students.

Walch said the food pantry is working on establishing ties with groups across campus, such as Multicultural Student Services and the Alaska Native Science and Engineering Program. One option for collaboration, she said, would be to provide food bags for groups to give to their students so they wouldn’t have to come into the pantry.

Another potential partnership is with the Food Bank of Alaska, Walch said. 

Currently, Walch mostly purchases food from Fred Meyers and Costco. A partnership with the Food Bank of Alaska would allow her to make purchases at wholesale prices, which would be much cheaper, Walch explained.

And money is important because the university does not provide funding to the food pantry. Walch explained that they do have a UA Foundation account, which allows people to donate to the UAA Food Insecurity Fund. This money funds both the Seawolf Food Pantry and the Emergency Food Cache at the SHCC.

The food pantry has also received funds from on-campus groups such as Parking Services. In the last couple of years, Walch said, Parking Services has done “Parking for the Pantry”, which designates specific weeks where 100% of  citation fees are donated to the food pantry.

Walch said the pantry also regularly receives donations from UAA faculty and staff, and that student groups have done donation drives in the past. She said she is especially impressed by how much students have given to help out other students.

“That's so moving to me, because, you know, we're (faculty and staff) working professional jobs,” Walch said. “We, I would assume, have a little bit more income than a student does, but even the students that give, you're just like, ‘Wow. Thank you.’ It's pretty cool.”