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ULM food pantry remains open to help students

Published April 2, 2020

It’s a beautiful spring day in Northeast Louisiana; the kind of day suspended between the wind chill of January and the airless heat of August. At the University of Louisiana Monroe Activity Center, there’s a steady flow of students. Dressed in shorts and Warhawks T-shirts, the students aren’t there to pace on treadmills or play basketball. They came for the free food.

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PHOTO: A student stocks the ULM food pantry inside the Activity Center. The food pantry provides non-perishable food items at no cost to students with a valid ID. The food pantry is open noon-3 p.m., Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday.
ULM Photo Services

ULM’s student food pantry remains open despite the center’s closure due to COVID-19. The food pantry hours have been adjusted to noon-3 p.m. Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Students can knock at the front door to enter or call 318-342-5305.

The food pantry is sponsored by the Office of Student Affairs and managed by Brandon Bruscato, Director of Recreational Services, with volunteer support from the SGA and CAB, under the guidance of Student Life and Leadership Director Emily Essex. The food is from the Food Bank of Northeast Louisiana. It is available to all ULM students, with a valid ID, at no cost.

“We are here to provide services for the students and will continue to stay open for them,” said Bruscato. “I believe the need for the food pantry will continue to grow during the COVID-19 crisis.”

The food pantry started this semester, and at that time, students could come in and get what they needed. Bruscato said regulations enacted because of COVID-19 had changed that, for the time being. 

“An Activity Center employee, practicing social distancing and taking sanitary measures, lets the student in and leads them to the entry of the food pantry. All the products are visible from the doorway. The student tells the employee what they want, and the employee puts the items in bags and gives them to the student,” Bruscato said.

The pantry is well stocked with nonperishables – canned fruits and vegetables, beans, rice, lentils, flour, peanut butter, and other items, plus some beverages.

“The food pantry is a resource for students, and we want them to use it,” said Vice President of Student Affairs Camile Currier.


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