Georgia Southern University’s Statesboro and Armstrong campus food pantries will be able to better serve students in need after receiving a $50,000 grant from Embark to enhance their services.
“Receiving the Embark grant for Eagle Essentials and the Captain’s Cupboard Food Pantry is a tremendous blessing for both campuses,” said Casey Weaver, associate dean for Student Care and Well-Being in the Office of Student Affairs, which applied for the grant.
“This grant has allowed us to upgrade our service from only providing shelf-stable foods to also including fresh foods by installing refrigerators and freezers on each campus.”
The grant will not only help meet student requests for fresh produce, but it will also provide resources for the food pantry to better manage its inventory.
“Demand for our food pantry has increased steadily each year, with more students requesting to use it each semester,” Weaver said. “Currently, we serve over 300 students, many of whom are in need of fresh produce. The grant has not only enabled us to meet this demand, but it also facilitated the purchase of a software program for the food pantry. This software has greatly enhanced our inventory management, streamlined user interactions, and helped us more effectively identify donation needs.”
Finally, funding from the grant will also provide the food pantry with dedicated marketing funds to increase awareness of the food pantry’s resources to students, faculty and staff in need.
“Additionally, the Emark grant has allowed us to invest in promotional items for our food pantry, addressing the current situation where marketing materials are limited due to the lack of a dedicated budget,” he said. “We recognize that even though we serve many students, there are even more who suffer from food insecurity without knowing about the resources available to them. These promotional items play a key role in expanding awareness and outreach efforts and ensuring more students benefit from our services.”
Weaver noted that donations play a vital role in keeping these food pantries afloat, and said that both Eagle Essentials and Captain Cupboard are always accepting donations. The food pantries accept monetary donations directly, through an Amazon wishlist or through the foundation’s account. More information on donation options can be found here.
In addition to donations, volunteers to help run the pantry are also welcome.
For questions about donating or volunteering, please email Casey Weaver (cweaver@georgiasouthern.edu) for Eagle Essentials Food Pantry on the Statesboro campus, or Cherie Gaume (cgaume@georgiasouthern.edu) for Captain’s Cupboard on the Armstrong campus.
