The Southeastern Foundation, Office of Multicultural and International Student Affairs and several volunteers joined together to answer the call of students who suffer from hunger by opening a food pantry on campus.
“It was a collaborative decision after we received approval from the president to start a food pantry,” said Tasha Cooper, vice president of university advancement. “The pantry has been an idea the foundation has been investigating for some time and even did some research with a student survey that was sent to a random sample of students.”
The Phil the Pig Program, which launched earlier in the semester to promote philanthropy among the student body, grew into the unveiling of a campus food pantry.    
“It’s a great opportunity for students in need and those who don’t have cars to get off campus and go to grocery stores to get food when Campus Dining is closed,” said Amberlyn Bell, a freshman criminal justice major. “I think the program will be very successful, and we will continue to receive donations from students.”
Although many students were skeptical about putting more money into the university, the impact of donations from the program saw an increase in donations.
“We are definitely seeing an increase and expect to continue to see an increase as Phil becomes more known and the results of the program start to show for our students,” said Cooper.
A ribbon cutting ceremony took place prior to Thanksgiving break to give students the opportunity to get food needed while the campus was closed during the holiday.
The Student Government Association, in addition to faculty and the student body, played a role in gaining student donations while also promoting Lion Pride.
“The food drive for SGA was a success,” said Jaci Sanchez, a sociology graduate student. “I think that the food drive was great idea. SGA specifically gave students the opportunity to give back and show school pride by offering students T-shirts in exchange for three non-perishable or canned food items or a T-shirt from another college or university.”
Professors offered students incentives for participating in the drive and were proud of the impact and empathy shown by students through there donations.
“There has already been a huge impact because we’ve seen students come over and over,” said Eric Summers, director of Multicultural and International Student Affairs. “I think it’s already made a huge difference for our students. We filled an entire room with food. There was huge participation of food donations from the football game.”
In addition to serving the needs of students, the pantry raises awareness among students.
“It raises awareness for the need for donations and poverty and hunger among students,” said Sanchez. “This allows students to help other students and builds community. We filled a lot of boxes with food. And distributed approximately 500 T-shirts, which brought in a lot of food.”
The program is hoping to spread into the surrounding community and gain more support.
“It’s a campus wide effort that we’re trying to get the community involved with too,” said Summers.
Any student in need can benefit from the pantry.
“The pantry is open to anyone who is a current student and has a need for food,” said Cooper. “We ask that students who can afford to buy food and have food available be courteous and not abuse the pantry. There will be limits on the amount of food that can be picked up at any one visit. We want to give enough food to help sustain someone and give them everything they need to have a nutritional meal.”
All money raised by Phil will be used for the pantry this year.  Donations from several campus organizations, students and the community stocked the pantry prior to Thanksgiving, but it is still in need of dry items such as rice, oatmeal and grits. The pantry will be open during winter break; follow The Lion’s Roar on Twitter and Facebook to find out specific times and dates.