Salt Lake Community College assists its community members by filling their cupboards and stomachs.
Students, staff, and faculty can all obtain free groceries and toiletries from the Bruin Pantry by presenting their OneCard.
Almost every person has a period in their life where they may need a little help just to buy food or hygiene products. Thankfully, at SLCC, there is no reason to struggle with this type of insecurity.
If someone is in need of food or other services, a visit to the Bruin Pantry may be what it takes to become a little more comfortable.
“We work with a lot of people, and I feel that we have a responsibility to help a lot of people,” says Bruin Pantry VISTA, Emily Jessop.
The amount of food a person can take depends on the pantry they visit. The South City Campus pantry limits patrons to four bags of food per month, due to the high traffic at that location. Patrons can take up to eight bags per month at Jordan, Taylorsville Redwood, and West Valley campuses, which experience lower volumes of traffic.
Anyone who has a larger need is welcome to visit more than one pantry, as the bag totals are counted separately at each location.
“It’s really great to see what impact [the pantry] has on people’s lives,” says Travis Dumas, the pantry’s coordinator.
Donations come from a myriad of places, but the majority of the food comes from the Utah Food Bank, who delivers their donations to the South City and Taylorsville Redwood sites.
The community also pulls together to feed those in need. Some of the avenues that are used to stock the pantry shelves involve class assignments, extra credit, food drives, various campus departments, and service classes.
Members of the public who want to help can provide their own donations as well.
Staffing at the pantry is mostly made up of student volunteers. The students come from service-learning classes, work-study, college internship programs and AmeriCorps VISTA.
SLCC has pantries at the South City, Taylorsville Redwood, Jordan and West Valley campuses. Contact the Thayne Center for hours and volunteer information.
