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At the rear of the Monroe Building, at the entrance to the Stocked & Ready Food Pantry, Catrielle Alexander (left), Jennifer Mondragon, Christopher Ginn, Chancellor Cam Patterson and the UAMS mascot, Lady, celebrate the pantry’s fifth anniversary.
July 19, 2024 | The UAMS Stocked & Reddie Food Pantry celebrated its fifth anniversary on July 15 and has served more than 1.1 million meals.
“If you think about how this started, it started because it’s part of our institutional values. Think about things like a living wage for all employees and the UAMS Child Development Center. These are all aligned with our institutional values,” said Cam Patterson, MD, MBA dean.
As Reddy stands nearby, pantry manager Jennifer Mondragon, left, holds a tray carrying some of the foods the pantry provides to UAMS students and staff.
In her speech at the commemoration, Stephanie Gardner, PharmD, EdD, dean and chief strategy officer at The University of Alabama College of Medicine, reflected on where the idea for the Stocked and Ready Food Pantry came from.
A few years ago, she said, students noticed leftover lunches from events left out in the hallways, and those conversations prompted her and the chancellor to launch a university survey on food insecurity. The survey, conducted in 2018, found that a significant number of UAMS students wonder where their next meal is coming from at some point each month.
Gardner, along with other university leaders, visited the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville and its food pantry and came back with some ideas. After extensive planning and preparation, the UAMS food pantry opened in July 2019.
Stocked & Reddie serves UAMS employees and students, as well as Arkansas Children’s Hospital employees, as part of the UAMS Nutrition and Hospitality Services division. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the pantry assisted families when they were furloughed from their jobs or quarantined or isolated.
The pantry has more than 3,000 members, including 65% UAMS employees, 15% students and 20% ACH employees. The pantry provides assistance to its members while protecting their privacy.
On the day of the anniversary celebration, July 15, over 500 members received food from Stocked & Reddie, setting a new single-day record for the food pantry.
“What’s unique about this program is that we don’t necessarily have visibility into what’s going on in our colleagues’ lives,” said Erin Gray, assistant vice chancellor and clinical liaison for Environmental Services (EVS), Nutrition Services and Occupational Safety and Health.
Gray said he was unaware that one of the employees he supervised was a Stocked and Ready member and that the employee was caring for three family members with health issues.
“She could do it on her own, but Stockt & Reddy helps her take care of her family,” Gray said. “If we hadn’t talked to her about this upcoming anniversary, I would never have known, and it inspired her to tell her story.”
Food insecurity and the need for the assistance food pantries provide will only increase over time.
Stocked and Ready director Catrielle Alexander said she believed much of the growth was due to rising food prices, motivating workers and students to take up membership to make ends meet.
An ongoing challenge for Stocked & Ready is expanding space and staffing. With only one full-time and one part-time employee in addition to manager Jennifer Mondragon, volunteers have been a big help, Alexander said. Deliveries and donations often come in large packages that need to be unpacked and put in storage or on shelves. About 350,000 pounds of food have been donated since 2023.
Alexander said the food pantry has received some grant funding and continues to seek more.
Mondragon expressed gratitude to all of Stocked & Ready’s supporters, including several donors and food donors who attended the gala and tour. The pantry’s community partners include:
Arkansas Children’s Hospital Arkansas Community Foundation Arkansas Food Bank Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance Blue and You Foundation Engage Potluck Food Rescue US Foods West Little Rock Sam’s Club
Alexander said she began volunteering at Stocked & Ready after her regular shift was over, and she said volunteers are vital to the pantry’s operations, as are private donations of food and money from non-members.
