Carl Sandburg College Meeting Students’ Needs With Food Pantry Options

  Aaron Frey
  Wednesday, March 31, 2021 4:43 PM
  Campus News

Galesburg, IL

Emily Webel loaded up the back of her GMC Yukon with 18 gallons of milk, 18 dozen eggs and several other tote and cooler bags full of food, then headed off on a trip that included stops in Monmouth, Keithsburg and Little York.

With limited foot traffic in Carl Sandburg College’s Resource Room Food Pantry this year while most classes are taught virtually due to COVID-19, Sandburg is finding ways to bring the room to students. In addition to implementing a pilot program for a mobile food pantry, the College has expanded the offerings of the Resource Room at its Branch Campus in Carthage.

“We have to meet students where they are right now,” said Webel, executive director of advancement for the Carl Sandburg College Foundation, “because they're not coming to us.”

Thanks to a donation from Mike and Mary Panther, the Resource Room on Sandburg's Main Campus in Galesburg expanded at the start of the 2019-20 academic year to include monthly deliveries of fresh produce, meat, frozen items and refrigerated food from River Bend Foodbank. The room has remained open by appointment during the pandemic, but the mobile food pantry has helped ensure students’ needs are being met and that the room is being utilized to its potential.

Supported by a portion of the Governor’s Emergency Education Relief (GEER) funds Sandburg received last September, the mobile food pantry is open to first-generation college students who are eligible for Federal Pell Grants. The initial group of recipients includes about 20 students, with deliveries made personally by Webel and volunteers from Sandburg’s Student Government Association, which has assisted in packing the boxes as well.

“We wanted a small test group because we didn't want to overwhelm our capabilities,” Webel said. “The mobile option has opened up our eyes to how many students need us to come to them.”

Webel said the response has been overwhelmingly positive. One student told her it was helpful because they typically aren’t on campus the day their food is delivered. Another student who lives in Little York told her, “I can’t believe you came all the way out here.”

“Not everybody lives in Galesburg, and not everybody comes to campus for classes, so we have to be thinking about our students and how retention can be a part of that conversation, too,” Webel said. “If we care enough to deliver or if we care enough to make a space more robust, then they are more likely to care about succeeding in their classes.”

Webel said implementing the mobile food pantry also prompted Sandburg to think more boldly about Carthage’s Resource Room, which was established several years ago through a Sandburg Foundation grant but had largely consisted of grab-and-go items and was supplemented by donations from Branch Campus staff members.

“If we have this lovely food pantry that’s stocked by a magical truck that comes in each month, why doesn't the Carthage campus have that too?” Webel said. “It seemed like a no-brainer to me.”

The Branch Campus now receives a portion of Sandburg’s monthly delivery from River Bend Foodbank, and Branch Campus director Ellen Henderson-Gasser said staff members have reached out to students to have them pick up meal boxes. They’ve done the same with students at dual-credit partner high schools in the Carthage area.

“Without your basic needs being met,” Henderson-Gasser said, “educational efforts are not going to be successful.”

The next step for the Branch Campus is to upgrade the facilities and infrastructure of its Resource Room to become a full-fledged food pantry. The space currently does not have refrigeration or a freezer, but the Branch Campus is seeking grant funding to make that possible. Donations are also welcome.

“The Resource Room is one of a variety of services and supports we offer to meet students’ needs and help them succeed,” Henderson-Gasser said. “My hope is to build a positive relationship with students and that they see us as a partner in life.”

To volunteer to assist with Sandburg’s Resource Room Food Pantry, make a financial contribution or learn more, email pantry@sandburg.edu.

Emily Webel, executive director of advancement for the Carl Sandburg College Foundation, helps sort a new shipment of items to the Carl Sandburg College Resource Room Food Pantry. Sandburg has added a mobile option of the food pantry for select students, and the Resource Room at its Branch Campus in Carthage now has a larger supply of offerings. (BILL GAITHER/Carl Sandburg College)

Linda Thomas, coordinator of Carl Sandburg College’s Branch Campus in Carthage, and Cory Gall, associate vice president of administrative services, hold boxes of food to be stocked in the Resource Room at the Branch Campus. (BILL GAITHER/Carl Sandburg College)