On Friday, Sept. 5, with over 160 people in attendance, the Amherst Survival Center and the University of Massachusetts Amherst held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the opening of an on-campus food pantry in the former Newman Center.
“The campus pantry is not only about providing food, it is about creating access and dignity and belonging right here where students live and learn, and it is also about us recognizing the realities that many of the employees on this campus face as they are also working hard and struggling to provide for themselves and their families,” Lev BenEzra, the executive director of the Amherst Survival Center, said.
The pantry will be open to everyone in the UMass community, including students, staff and faculty. Individual shoppers will be allotted 70 points per month within a household, which can either be spent all at once or throughout the month. The cost of items in the pantry ranges from one to four points.
The pantry will be open Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, with evening hours on Tuesday and Thursday. It will also be open during both summer and winter breaks.
“All of these factors make the campus pantry accessible and provide a shopping experience with dignity and respect at its core,” Jake Krain, the manager of the campus pantry, said.
BenEzra explained that over the past couple of years, food insecurity has impacted many in the Western Massachusetts area and beyond, with 1 in 3 undergraduate college students and 1 in 2 graduate students suffering from food insecurity. In Massachusetts, 44 percent of public college students have expressed that hunger is a challenge. According to BenEzra, the number of UMass students at the Amherst Survival Center has increased significantly over the past few years.
“The sad reality is that in the United States of America, the richest country in the history of the world. There is no state, there is no city, there is no town, there is no community, there is no college campus that is immune from food insecurity,” Congressman Jim McGovern said.
“As a member of Congress, I’m ashamed of that reality and hunger, when all is said and done, is essentially a political condition, and what I mean by that is we have the resources, we have the money, we know what to do, we have the food, we have everything to end hunger, but we lack the political will. Right on this campus, you are demonstrating that you have the political will, and I hope it’s an example for others across this country,” McGovern said.
Chancellor Javier Reyes shared his own personal experiences of food insecurity, tearing up throughout his speech. “As a public land grant university, we take on that challenge by making it visible … but we have to start with the decision, not forcing people to decide between opportunity and food,” Reyes said.
“This would not have been possible without the partnership and support and guidance and engagement of an incredible partner in this community, someone that has been fighting this fight much longer than we have, the Amherst Survival Center,” Reyes continued.
The Amherst Survival Center is a community service organization offering services such as fresh food, a medical clinic, showers and more.
“The Amherst Survival Center is a place where community comes together. Someone may come to those level doors hungry and be greeted with volunteers and staff smiling, who only ask, ‘What town are you from?’” Jennifer Moyston, the board president of the Amherst Survival Center, said.
The ceremony’s attendees included former UMass Student Government Association (SGA) President Colin Humphries, Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs, Student Affairs and Equity, Nefertiti A. Walker, Massachusetts State Senator, Jo Comerford and Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs and Campus Life, Shelly Perdomo-Ahmed.
McGovern explained that the food pantry is a positive addition to the UMass community and beyond, in an unprecedented time. “There’s a lot of reasons to despair right now, and I worry about that, because it makes you feel hopeless and helpless. This is the kind of action that should make you feel hopeful and that we can move the ball forward,” McGovern said.
Alexandra Hill can be reached at [email protected] and Eve Neumann can be reached at [email protected].
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