Serving students in need
Roxanna Miranda/The Rider Photos
Valeria Henderson | THE RIDER
Students who lack money to buy groceries can stop by the UTRGV Student Food Pantry, where once a week they can receive aliments.
The food pantry is located in Cavalry Hall 101 and 102 on the Brownsville campus and in University Center 114 on the Edinburg campus.
“[Students] fill out an application that asks about their income and their household size,” said Nadia Valdez, manager of the food pantry at the Brownsville campus. “But we still give them food. And we always have the most basic items of foods, like vegetables, water, drinks and grains. So, we always try to have a variety of food available.”
When students fill out the application, they are asked about their dietary needs, such as vegetarian, diabetic, or any allergies, etc. The food pantry will supply students with what they can consume.
“We always make sure that we have the most nutritious foods that we can have,” Valdez said. “Whenever we can provide produce, we do that, too.”
Students can enroll on the UTRGV Student Food Pantry website, where they can also view a list of available items. Students must order a day before they pick up their food.
“Right now, because of COVID, we only have, like, an average of 50 students per month,” Valdez said. “But, before COVID, we had more than 150 students that would come in each month.”
The food pantry website has a tab titled donations, which lists items in high demand, such as canned foods and dried foods. Donations can be made from 2 to 5 p.m. Monday, Tuesday and Thursday and from 1 to 4 p.m. Friday.
The TRiO Program, churches and students donate to the UTRGV Food Pantry in Brownsville, Valdez said. The food pantry recently received three donations in March from the TRiO program, which conducts food drives.
“We have the donations, so [the students in need] can ask for the kind of items that they want us to offer more,” she said. “So, we would put that in our donation food list, like the most wanted items. And then we always take into consideration what they want us to offer.”
Some students know about the food pantry at UTRGV because of the volunteer opportunities available.
“I’ve heard of it; I had a couple of friends that volunteered a couple of times,” said Claudia Carranza, a senior marketing major. “So, I do know what it is, but I’ve never personally been there or gotten food from there.”
Due to the pandemic, students are not allowed to volunteer at the food pantry.
“Before the pandemic, we used to actually have more volunteers and a lot of more people coming to the food pantry,” said Luana Hernandez, a senior biology major who works at the food pantry in Brownsville. “After the pandemic, we don’t accept volunteers anymore due to precautions.
The UTRGV Student Food Pantry wants students to know it is taking health precautions.
“I know, even though with everything going on with COVID, some students don’t want to come, just in case, due to precautions,” Hernandez said. “But, I guess, just for them to know that we’re taking our precautions and we’re doing everything we can to be as clean and safe as possible, so they’re able to come in and still order online and get their food.”
