The University’s Community Food Pantry partnered with Student Health and Wellness to provide Thanksgiving meal kits to students this year. 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 for students to pick up between Nov. 20 and Nov. 27.
According to Eleanor Steiner, executive director of the CFP and fourth-year College student, 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.
Steiner said that 180 total students received a meal kit this year, with 160 receiving the kit directly from CFP. In addition, 20 students received a meal kit with materials to make a chicken pot pie after learning to make the dish at the Student Health and Wellness teaching kitchen.
Located in the Student Activities Center on the first floor of Newcomb Hall, the CFP is a student-run food pantry 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. The food pantry is open to all students, faculty and staff regardless of demonstrated need.
According to Steiner, donations from the Parents Fund — a program that receives gifts from parents of current and former students to support initiatives on Grounds — and other fundraisers allow for the CFP to stay stocked throughout the year with non-perishable food and snacks.
However, Steiner said this year’s Thanksgiving food kit initiative, led by graduate Batten student Anastasia Jones, was made possible by first time funding from Student Council. The new funding support allowed this year to be the first in which CFP provided fully assembled meal kits to students. The kits were available to the first 200 people who filled out an online form requesting them and were appropriately modified for those with allergy or dietary restrictions.
Beyond the meal kits prepared by CFP, the organization also partnered with the SHW teaching kitchen, which works to help students learn to cook nutritious meals while encouraging budgeting and sustainability. The CFP kitchen initiative took place Nov. 21 as part of CSS’s 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, 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 CSC and its programs — including the CFP — recently became part of Student Health and Wellness, enabling this year’s partnership, Steiner said that the CFP and CSS previously worked with the teaching kitchen for the first time in Feb. 2024 for their annual “Souper Bowl of Caring” Fundraiser, laying 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.”
According to Danielle D’Andrea Black, director of communications and marketing at Student Health and Wellness, the CFP and SHW will continue to work closely in the future, with the CFP moving into the SHW building this coming spring as a part of CSS. Black said this merger will allow for a much larger pantry on the 4th floor that will also be able to store refrigerated food items.
“The integration of Care and Support Services into Student Health and Wellness facilitated this [Community Food Pantry] partnership,” Black said. “By combining resources and expertise, we're able to provide enhanced support to students, including food security initiatives.”
Steiner said that the move from Newcomb Hall to the SHW building will hopefully allow students more access to the CFP and its resources. According to Steiner, one of the biggest problems with the current location of the pantry is that it has to align with Newcomb Hall’s hours, which are typically 7 a.m. to midnight Monday through Saturday, and 8 a.m. to midnight Sundays.
She noted that the Student Health and Wellness buildings’ hours during the academic year are longer, with the building open from 7:45 a.m. to 2 a.m. on both weekdays and weekends, although students are required to swipe their student ID to access the building on weekends and after 5 p.m. on weekdays.
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 “cut dry,” because the resources they rely on during the school year are no longer available.
Looking ahead to the winter break, Steiner said the organization aims to do two major restocks of the pantry through food drives and trips to Costo, 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.”
Read More
Virginia obliterated 37-17 in Commonwealth Clash
By Peter Kriebel | YesterdayThe Cavaliers lose to Virginia Tech once again, and have not conquered their hated rival since 2019.
Students and faculty plant forest patch outside Monroe Hall
By Lidia Zur Muhlen | 4 days agoAlongside the new edible patch outside Monroe Hall, there are also patches at Scott Stadium, Carr’s Hill, Meadow Creek, Observatory Hill and Hereford Residential College.
From the archives: Nov. 25 – Dec. 1
By Emma Todd and Grace Franklin | 6 days agoThe day before Thanksgiving in 1981, the University was gifted with its first snow of the year!
