Cardinal Cupboard Free Pop-up Grocery Store

By Amanda McShane

The Cardinal Cupboard Free Pop-up Grocery Store was held in the Pryz 327 from 10 in the morning to 2 in the afternoon on Thursday, February 7 that provided free groceries for everyone. A total of 99 people of a mix of staff and students came to the pop-up grocery.

The pop-up was developed by a collaborative effort between different staff members. A committee was formed last year and the pop-up had been in the process over a year and a half. The food was bought and came out of budget. The instructions were “take what you need” and there was not a limit of how much food you want to take. The type of food served was meant to be accessible for everyone. For instance, mac and cheese, tuna and cans of soup. “We ran out of food in a hour and a half” said Emmjolee Mendoza Waters, Associate Director of Campus Ministry and Community Service.

This was the third pop-up grocery store. The first was done last spring semester and the second done in the same year as the third. Waters mentioned a survey about food insecurity on Martin Luther King day of service, which was on January 21. This survey was done by a national study looking at different universities by identifying and doing research on food insecurity on college campuses across the country. Current estimate suggests that half of American college students are experiencing food insecurity.

“We wanted to see if we put out a pop-up pantry or a Cardinal cover would people come? Was there a need without doing like a full survey all of campus. So, We put something out there to see if people would come and we’re surprised that so many people participated” Waters said. There was a sheet for people who wanted to want to give more information at the pop-up, it was optional and not a requirement. Students and staff did not have to sign anything, show their cardinal ID or sign in.

A graduate student is in their field placement and their focus is on the grocery pop-up in Campus Ministry. A few people opted to give feedback to the graduate student. “Some of the feedback we got was they really liked it, it helped them. We are looking for any feedback from the community what they would like to see in the pantry, what would be helpful for them. Really the most important thing for me is to connect students with some of these resources” said Waters.  

They plan on doing more grocery pop-ups but they hope there will a permanent space for the pantry. “The hope is that it is not a pop up and that it would be a permanent pantry that just is going to require lots of funds of like an actually permanent space and money to actually fill it up on a regular basis” Waters said.