By Brandon Cantwell
After years of moving around, the Penguin Pantry has found a new home. Previously located on the second floor of Kilcawley Center, the Penguin Pantry was moved to room 1405 in Cushwa Hall last September.
Established in 2015, the Penguin Pantry started as a service that solely provided food from canned goods to frozen items. Over time, it has come to provide other services such as the career closet, a service previously located in the Career and Exploration office in Jones Hall.
Stephanie Baker, a case worker who recently moved into the office of the Dean of Students, said the choice to move the pantry followed after the office of the Dean of Students moved to Cushwa Hall.
“The office of the Dean of Students has just recently moved to Cushwa Hall, and in order for us to have oversight of [the pantry], we wanted it to be in our location so that we could pop down in between meetings and other things that we had going on to check in with the volunteers and supply and just see how things are running,” Baker said.
Baker said it is important for students, faculty and staff to know about the pantry because it is a great service to utilize.
“We know in this day and age that things can be expensive,” Baker said. “Food, rent, utilities, Internet, all of that piles up and when you’re trying to go to school and get a degree to have a career. It can be hard to juggle all of those things. So, if there is one thing that we can do to try to offset costs and provide a service to students so that they can utilize their money elsewhere and kind of relieve some of that stress, we’re going to try to do it.”
Anyone who is interested in supporting the pantry with assorted goods can bring donations directly to the pantry. To make a monetary donation, the YSU Foundation has a form available on its website.
For more information, contact the Office of the Dean of Students at [email protected] or via phone at (330)941-3443 to speak with Case Manager, Jacob Haskins.