The Sam Houston State University Food Pantry celebrated the grand opening of their new location Tuesday, Feb. 4.

The purpose of the Food Pantry is to supply students with food insecurity nutritious meals.

Food Pantry Student Worker Supervisor Thomas Taylor said that with the growing number of students in need of food, the old location was too small.

“We moved because we were working out of a little 10-by-10 closet, and between all the cans and fridges, there was simply no space for students to come in and look around very easily,” Taylor said.

The Food Pantry started distributing food in 2014 when SHSU student Amber Spell became concerned after reading about the increasing number of food pantries opening on other college campuses.

According to a survey of SHSU students in 2014, over 50% of respondents indicated that they had experienced food insecurity in recent months.

In 2019, the College of Health Sciences started overseeing the pantry. COHS plays an important role in the health and wellness of the students through education and by making sure the Food Pantry is sustained by donations of food and money.

Taylor said the new space will help to better serve the students.

“The new space is awesome,” Taylor said. “It is huge and has so much space, and we have so many new things like a freezer, a better fridge and nicer shelving. The new place is a whole building, roughly eight times larger and it has its own little office with an employee area. We love the new place so much.”

Taylor said the pantry distributes food on every other Wednesday. If a student in is immediate need of food, they can pick up an emergency food kit during normal operating hours.

The pantry is open Monday through Thursday 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Friday from 9 a.m. to noon. It is located behind the KatPost at 1108 17th St.
For more information or to donate, contact the Food Pantry at foodpantry@shsu.edu or call 936-294-4441.