San Jose State University opened a new on-campus food pantry for students experiencing food insecurity in an effort to ensure they have the proper nutrition to complete their studies.
"This is about recognizing that some people don't have access to the food or sometimes they don't have access to buy nutritionally balanced food," said Student Affairs Case Manager, Ben Falter.
The new Spartan Food Pantry, located in the Diaz Compean Student Union, is the first full-service walk-in pantry which is also fully staffed. The 1,000-square-foot pantry is designed like a grocery store, so students can walk around and pick from a variety of fresh produce, refrigerated and non-perishable goods.
Most of the food provided to the Spartan Food Pantry is donated by the Second Harvest Food Bank.
"We're really proud of our space," said Falter. "We're one of the last pantries to open a physical walk-in pantry within the CSU, because we wanted to make sure we did it right. For us, we really did it right."
The pantry opened late March and has already serviced over 1200 students.
In order to be eligible students must be enrolled at SJSU, bring a reusable grocery bag and earn an annual income of $33K or less.
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Students can take advantage of the food pantry once a week for groceries.
The Spartan Food Pantry is currently open Monday - Tuesday 1-6 p.m. and Wednesday - Friday 10 a.m. - 3 p.m.
