$7,000 grant to support students in need of food

Will benefit Bear Essentials Pantry on campus and partnership with Friend Inc.

Kutztown University has received a grant from a national nonprofit that will help it continue to support students in need of food.

KU received a $7,000 grant from Swipe Out Hunger, the group working to end college student food insecurity by providing funds to campus food pantries.

Swipe Out Hunger awarded more than $420,000 to 102 colleges, officials said in a press release.

The money allows campuses to expand food offerings to accommodate students’ dietary and cultural needs, provide funding for student volunteers and staff, acquire cold storage for perishable and fresh items, invest in new technology for their pantry operations, expand outreach through pop-up pantries throughout campuses, and deliver groceries and meals to students in need, officials said.

At KU, the Bear Essentials Pantry, located in the McFarland Student Union and run by the Office of Student Involvement, provides nonperishable food items to students in need.

The university also has a partnership with Friend Inc., a local nonprofit agency serving northeastern Berks County, that provides a satellite food pantry next to campus and critical support services to students in need.

The grants will help those two entities.

With the rapidly growing demand at campus food pantries and other food security programs across the country, Swipe Out Hunger’s primary goal for this year’s grants is to equitably distribute funds by strategically prioritizing the campuses with the highest need using relevant data provided by the schools, officials said.

This year’s grant program is the single largest investment cycle Swipe Out Hunger has made in its history. Since 2021, the organization has distributed more than $720,000.

The grants are made possible thanks to the support of Swipe Out Hunger’s philanthropic partners including Campus Specialties Inc. and MicroFridge, The Giant Company and Sodexo Stop Hunger Foundation.