On Friday, the Office of Graduate and International Student Life (OGISL) held its Soup-A-Bowl fundraiser in the student dining section of The Marketplace. The event cost $10 to attend and allowed students to try a number of soups from around the world and vote on which they liked best. OGISL hosted a table in the hallway, accepting food and clothing donations and giving out soup mugs. The fundraiser’s intent was to gain items for the university’s career closet and campus pantry. The career closet and food pantry includes professional clothing and nonperishable food as well as health and wellness items to those who need them at no additional cost.
The location of the career closet and campus pantry opened to students five years ago on Ruden Street Building 19, Room 005. The career closet allows students to borrow professional clothing such as shirts, blazers, pants and skirts for a job or interview.
It’s opening was through a collaboration between the university’s Career Development Center (CDC), ChargerREC and Stop & Shop, with the school having been one of the first college beneficiaries of Stop & Shop’s School Food Pantry program. The grocer now supports more than four dozen school food pantries in Connecticut.
“The Stop & Shop School Food Pantry Program was established to help limit barriers impacting students’ ability to succeed in the classroom. Making sure that they have consistent access to food is a part of that,” said Stop & Shop’s director of community relations Jennifer Brogan in a press release.
Stop & Shop also donated $50,000 to the University in 2020 to sponsor a scholarship, with a portion of it being allocated to a nutrition sciences student every year. Stop & Shop has continued to support the pantry, with the company donating $12,500 to support its work as a way to commemorate its five year anniversary.
The purpose of this initiative was to help students focus on their academics without having to worry about finding ways of getting these supplies on their own by addressing food insecurity. The pantry has continued to expand thanks to a collaboration with Connecticut Foodshare, which allows the pantry to serve more students and hold food items that may usually be more costly, such as produce and protein. The pantry also offers students toiletries such as toothpaste and shampoo. Diane Polo, the associate director for health and wellness education and prevention, oversees the pantry. It is a vital resource for many students, as it’s helped over 750 students in the Fall 2023 semester, and helps nearly 200 students every month.
The Soup-A-Bowl event was originally scheduled to take place on Thursday, Feb. 6, but was rescheduled to the following day after many grew concerned over the weather, with classes before 4 p.m. being cancelled. The event lasted three hours and saw hundreds of dollars worth of foods and clothing items donated to the pantry. For those interested in donating items to the pantry or Career Closet, contact [email protected]
