SNAC brings Thanksgiving snacks to students
One in eight Americans fight hunger every day, according to information provided by the Cache Community Food Pantry.
The food pantry feeds many citizens including single-parent families, individuals with fixed incomes and those with large working families.
But students have their own way to donate and receive food. A few years ago, some students started the Student Nutrition Access Center, commonly known as SNAC.
“I knew (Southern Utah University) had a student food pantry, and I saw a need for one here at Utah State,” said founder Jordan Hunt, a junior studying liberal arts.
Hunt said he and Varuna Ponnamperuma, cofounder of SNAC, utilized the Service Center and Housing facilities to start SNAC, feeding the first student a few weeks later.
“We were working out of a leaky old trailer where the trailer park once stood,” Hunt said. “After weeks and weeks of work, we started to question if SNAC was going to work at Utah State, but things started to pick up once our name was better known, our location moved to the (Taggart Student Center) and countless other reasons.”
SNAC Director Maddie Milligan, a senior majoring in community health education, said the program helps financially unstable students to eat regularly.
“How it works is students come in, show us their student ID and then take a grocery-sized bag of non-perishable food items,” she said. “We receive most of our food from events around campus. We are open Monday and Thursday 3 to 6 (p.m.) in TSC 333. No questions are asked (of) the students that come into our office seeking help.”
Volunteer coordinator Matt Lyman, a senior majoring in liberal arts, said SNAC feeds anywhere from 8-12 students a week, and he’ll see those students about 3-4 times a semester.
He said SNAC collaborated with other campus organizations for help, and now support comes from many different places.
“Many clubs collect cans all year round to donate to the pantry,” he said. “We have advertised at things like Day on the Quad, and last year we made soup on the TSC Patio to get our name out and warm up frozen students.”
SNAC works in conjunction with the Cache Community Food Pantry to be able to help as many people as possible, Lyman said
“When the Student Nutrition Access Center first started, the Cache Valley food pantry was more than willing to help out by donating canned goods and other food to SNAC,” he said. “Now when the SNAC pantry has some extra food they donate it to the Cache Valley pantry.”
Hunt said SNAC expanded its focus to include nutrition as well.
“Every Monday from 3 to 5, they have a nutrition emphasis where the dietetics students come teach healthy, easy options that everyone can make,” he said. “They do food demonstrations and give out free samples to everyone that comes.”
Milligan took over Hunt’s position as director this year.
“I am involved, because I am interested in health — it is a passion of mine,” she said.
“I was worried,” Hunt said, “because I don’t think I emphasized the time it took to run the pantry when I turned this position over, but I wanted other people to get the experience of being involved with the service SNAC offers. This year was the true test for SNAC. It was sink or swim if the program was going to last.”
– caitlyn.lewis@aggiemail.usu.edu