“Feeding the Pride Food Pantry” Coming to Campus

It’s an alarming trend among college students nation-wide, do they eat or do they buy the books that are needed for classes.

However there’s one university student who is rallying a campus to feed the pride.

For nearly four years, Julia Henderson has worked as a Residence Hall Advisor at the University of North Alabama.

She’s pretty much seen it all on campus.

But when she saw a fellow classmate digging food out of a garbage can and another stealing food, Julia knew something needed to happen.

“We were talking about roommate conflict, and one of them was talking about how one of their residents was stealing food from her roommate because she didn’t have money. And I was like, well, if we had a food pantry that wouldn’t be an issue, and right then I was like I am going to start one,” says Henderson.

So Julia started doing her research. She found five campuses across the US had food pantries at the time. Just a couple of months later, that number has hit 20.

Henderson says students have to make tough decisions in order to stay in school, “Groceries come last to tuitions, books, gas and bills. So, I would imagine that it is going to be more of a struggle.”

Working with the Office of Student Engagement at UNA, Julia has established the Feeding the Pride Food Pantry.

Food assistance designed to help fellow classmates with the struggle of having a meal to eat.

Henderson says the process is simple, “if a student is in need, all they will have to do is come in and fill out a form and they will be able to get a supply for a few days.”

And the university senior says they will have a location on campus that is both private and confidential, for those students needing a little help.

Organizers hope to have the Feeding the Pride Pantry up and running by the time school starts in august.

Collier Library is currently holding a book amnesty – canned food drive, to get things started.