The Ohio State University at Marion has been working for over a year to determine community and campus need, secure space, and funding for their new Buckeye Food Alliance Marion Campus Food Pantry. With a grand opening and ribbon cutting ceremony set for Wednesday, November 14th, the campus welcomes students, faculty, staff, alumni, the community, and friends of the campus to open their cabinets and their wallets to help stock pantry shelves.
As part of the campus’s week long “Beat Michigan” celebration, a local anonymous donor has offered to host a tailgate party on campus to bring attention and much needed support to the new pantry’s grand opening. The “Mystery Buckeye Party Bus” will pull on to the Marion campus at noon on Wednesday, November 14th. For a donation of cash, canned goods, or other non-perishable food items, the campus and community are invited to have a hot dog and share in tailgate party from 12 until 5 p.m. All beef and vegetarian hot dogs will be on the grill. The community is invited to be on hand for the big “reveal” as the bus pulls up in front of the Alber Student Center.
“Food insecurity and homelessness is an issue for students at colleges across the country, said Ohio State Marion Mental Health and Wellness Counselor, Leslie Beary, MSW, LISW-S.
Beary, a driving force behind establishing the new food pantry, shared that food insecurity among college students is real, and hopes the opening of this campus-based pantry will help fill a needed nutritional gap for students at Ohio State Marion and Marion Technical College.
“Research shows that when food pantries are campus based, students are more likely to use that resource. If we are keeping our students fueled and healthy they are more likely to succeed in their academic pursuits,” which is our primary goal Beary said.
According to Beary, the pantry is actively seeking funding, and hopes to keep the pantry stocked with primarily healthy food items.
The pantry anticipates opening Mondays and Thursdays each week 10-11 a.m., 12:30-1:30 p.m., 5-6 p.m. Beary also shared that the pantry is also linked to Kroger Community Rewards and Buffalo Wild Wings for community patrons who wish to continually help support the pantry effort.
Students will need to show there student id to participate in the food pantry. Both community members and students will be asked to complete forms of eligibility. For student eligibility, the pantry looks at student income only, not parent income.
The new food bank is partnered with Mid-Ohio Food Bank based in Columbus, Ohio.