MORRISVILLE, N.Y. — SUNY Morrisville students will soon be able to pick up dairy and other perishable items through the campus food pantry system, thanks to a State University of New York (SUNY) grant to purchase refrigeration units.
The college is among 17 SUNY schools to receive the grant, announced by SUNY Chancellor Jim Malatras as part of a larger effort to ensure students on campuses have access to refrigerated items as food insecurity grows across the nation.
SUNY Morrisville plans to purchase one refrigerator/freezer unit intended for the basement of the John W. Stewart Center for Student Activities (STUAC). The grant will augment SUNY Morrisville’s existing food pantry efforts of offering nonperishable items to also include fresh food for those in need.
“Hunger has no place on our campuses, and we must do everything we can to eliminate it so that students can focus on their studies,” said Chancellor Malatras. “Our mission at SUNY is to make that decision easier by supporting our students with sustainable food options with the hope that one day our food pantries won’t be necessary. Until that day happens, we will make our food pantries as robust as possible, and with a little bit of funding, we are able to do so.”
“We are so pleased SUNY has prioritized this crucial issue, especially as COVID-19 has exacerbated economic hardships for so many families,” said Kacee Garner, SUNY Morrisville’s coordinator of equity, inclusion & Title IX, who also oversees the campus food pantry system.
Anyone in the campus community can use the college’s pantry system, which includes four locations: the STUAC basement, southeast entrance of Crawford Hall, north entrance of Brooks Hall and the Student Health Center.
The new refrigerator will help the college offer a greater variety of food to campus community members in need and also will help capitalize on existing partnerships with area farms and dairies and the campus food production processes.
“We want to be able to ensure everyone has access to the food they need,” Garner said.
All SUNY students have access to a food pantry on or near campus, and with the recent award, 55 are now equipped to handle fresh food along with nonperishable items.
