Six campus pantries from Minnesota participate
When Ellie McDowell began her role as a social worker at North Hennepin Community College, she began overseeing the NHCC Food Cupboard.
When the cupboard expanded, McDowell, new to hunger relief, reached out to FFEN to transform what was a dark and dingy computer room into a bright and colorful food shelf.
Now the pantry, an official SuperShelf site, serves 300 to 500 students a month and McDowell is participating in FFEN’s first ever Campus Pantry Leader Cohort. The cohort includes six campus pantry leaders from across Minnesota and is a series of six sessions focused on best practice sharing, leadership development, and peer learning.
For McDowell, the cohort is an opportunity to intentionally connect, and it has spurred her to think about the cupboard’s mission.
“It’s one thing to say these are our values but it’s another to show how they play out every day,” she said.
The mission, she said, should guide training for student workers and volunteers to ensure a dignified and welcoming environment.
Tracy Rahim is the student life coordinator at Minnesota State College Southeast, and she is managing food pantries on two campuses.
The cohort has given her an opportunity to explore how to create the best pantry service possible. She plans to create an advisory board of students, staff, and faculty to guide the service into the future.
“I want to really make positive impacts on our food sourcing and get an analysis done from (FFEN) on how to stretch our dollar and make the space more inviting and more efficient,” Rahim said.
This professional development experience is made possible with funding from the Hennepin County Statewide Health Improvement Partnership (SHIP), Minnesota Department of Health.
