Editor's note: The original version of this article was retracted — it falsely stated that this was the first year for Thanksgiving meal kits and framed the University Community Pantry as the main organizers. In reality, Student Council’s Student Life Agency, a significant contributor to this years’ meal kits, has organized meal kits in previous years and began working with CFP to offer Thanksgiving meal kits last year. Necessary revisions were made to the piece below to address these concerns before republishing.
Student Council’s Student Life Agency and the University’s Community Food Pantry worked together to provide Thanksgiving meal kits to students this year. The Student Life Agency, which works to address concerns related to student services and resources, and the CFP, which provides access to food and hygiene items for students and staff experiencing financial hardships, prepped meal kits containing bread, canned goods and other food in advance of the Thanksgiving holiday. These kits were available for students to pick up between Nov. 20 and Nov. 27.
As part of the Cabinet of Student Council, the Student Life Agency deals with concerns related to topics such as dining and transportation, and uses their allocated budget directly from Student Council of $3,700 per semester to fund various projects, including the meal kits and a current project working to get free menstrual products in dorms.
According to Christopher Joseph, co-director of the Student Life Agency and fourth-year College student, Student Council’s Student Life Agency has created and distributed holiday meal kits for many years and began partnering with the CFP last year. Joseph said Student Council helps the CFP order non-perishable items from the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank, and that the partnership between SLA and CFP has been mutually beneficial since it began last year.
“Looking into the archives of our previous meal kits, I saw that a lot of the leftover food already goes to the food pantry, so I wanted to reach out to see [which] ways they could help us get more materials and what non-perishable items they need extra of so we could potentially fund it,” Joseph said.
Joseph and Eleanor Steiner, executive director of the CFP and fourth-year College student, said providing food to students in advance of the Thanksgiving break was a major reason for the meal kit initiative, as the food pantry and other locations for students to get food on Grounds are closed. This year’s Thanksgiving recess took place from Nov. 27 through Dec. 1.
Joseph said that 206 total students received a meal kit this year, with 186 picking up their kit directly from CFP, located in the Student Activities Center of Newcomb Hall. According to Joseph,153 of these were reserved by students who filled out an online form, and 33 of these were unreserved and left in the Pantry for anyone to take.
According to Joseph, Student Council has also put together meal kits for spring breaks in the past which have received positive feedback from students who completed an optional survey about their experience after receiving the kit. Joseph said that given how successful this year’s Thanksgiving meal kits were, Student Council is anticipating even more students to reserve a kit for spring break 2025.
Beyond the 186 meal kits prepared by the CFP and Student Council, Joseph said Student Council was able to fund a partnership between the CFP and the SHW teaching kitchen, which works to help students learn to cook nutritious meals while encouraging budgeting and sustainability. The CFP kitchen initiative was led by graduate Batten student Anastasia Jones, and took place Nov. 21 as part of Care and Support Services free “Pick of the Pantry” classes that teach students to cook with the types of non-perishable, long lasting foods given out in the CFP. During the class, 20 students learned how to cook a chicken pot pie and were then sent home with a Thanksgiving meal kit made by CFP so they could replicate the recipe over break.
The CFP is overseen by Care and Support Services, an office under the University Department of Student Health and Wellness which provides support for student wellbeing through services ranging from mental health support to food access help. According to Danielle D’Andrea Black, Director of Communications and Marketing at SHW, CSS’s programs recently became part of Student Health and Wellness, enabling this year’s partnership. Steiner said that the CFP worked with the SHW teaching kitchen for the first time in Feb. 2024 for their annual “Souper Bowl of Caring” Fundraiser, although Student Council was not involved in funding that event. According to Steiner, the February collaboration between CFP and the SHW teaching kitchen laid the groundwork for this year’s Thanksgiving meal kit partnership.
“Last year was one of our first partnerships with the teaching kitchen,” Steiner said. “We wanted to do a Thanksgiving themed teaching kitchen event, that’s where chicken pot pie came from. It’s really cool to be able to walk away with the groceries needed to make that item.”
While the Thanksgiving recess only lasted five days, Steiner said that over longer breaks — such as the upcoming winter break from Dec. 18 through Jan. 12 — students who need access tend to be “cut dry,” because the resources they rely on during the school year are no longer available.
However, Steiner said the CFP aims to do two major restocks of the pantry looking ahead to winter break through food drives and trips to Costco, Walmart and the Blue Ridge Food Bank. According to Steiner, the two drives will occur right before the final period begins and right as finals end.
“Students can come in and make their own version of these break boxes,” Steiner said. “Obviously, we won’t be able to provide them food to last over the entire break, but hopefully [we can] at least get them over the hump.”
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