Works Cited

“Campus Food Pantry Aids Students in Need.” Niner Times, UNCCDSO, ninertimes.com/2014/10/campus-food-pantry-aids-students-in-need/. Accessed 3 Apr. 2017.

“Jamil Niner Student Pantry.” Jamil Niner Student Pantry - UNC Charlotte, unccdso.uncc.edu/org/foodpantryprogram/. Accessed 3 Apr. 2017.

“Junior Sean Myhand Honored for Community Service.” Junior Sean Myhand Honored for Community Service | Inside UNC Charlotte | UNC Charlotte, Inside UNCC, 14 Nov. 2016, inside.uncc.edu/news-features/2016-11-14/junior-sean-myhand-honored-community-service. Accessed 3 Apr. 2017.

“Niner Student Pantry.” UNC Charlotte, crowdfund.uncc.edu/project/1098. Accessed 3 Apr. 2017.

Price, Marty. “Niner Student Food Pantry Has a Larger Space to Help Students in Need.” Charlotteobserver, The Charlotte Observer, 18 Nov. 2015, www.charlotteobserver.com /news/local/community/university-city/article45323244.html. Accessed 3 Apr. 2017.

Thornton, Lisa. “Student Needs Give Rise to UNCC Campus Food Pantry.” Charlotteobserver, The Charlotte Observer, 23 Jan. 2015, www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/community/ university-city/article9263261.html. Accessed 3 Apr. 2017.

MARKET/BACKGROUND RESEARCH

The Jamil Niner student pantry was formally established in 2014, by a group of devoted faculty and students. The initiative was originally introduced in 2012, when a team from UNCC attended the First Annual NC Campuses against Hunger Conference. From there, the idea began to formulate and caught the attention of the Department of Student Affairs and the Department of Academic Affairs. Sean Langley, the assistant director of off-campus and volunteer outreach for UNCC, began the pantry with a $6,000 grant from Food Lion, in September 2014. (Price, 2015) The pantry was originally located in Colvard 3135, which was less than optimal due to the lack of space. In October of 2015, the pantry moved to its current location, a house at 1224 John Kirk Rd. This location was preferred as it can be accessed by car or on foot, and offers a bit more privacy for clients. The pantry is stocked through partnerships with local grocers and charitable donations. The pantry’s primary goal is to solve problem of food insecurity at UNCC. It also serves to meet other needs of students, such as toiletries and even a room devoted to professional clothes. The professional clothes provide students with the opportunity to dress professionally when giving presentations and going to job interviews.  (Price, 2015)

Similar organizations like UNCG, VCU, Michigan State University, and the more than 120 other student food pantries across the nation, work to address hunger among college students as well. In fact our own pantry is modeled closely after the food pantry at VCU. Nationally, there has been a boom in food pantries opening up on college campuses within the past two years. In NC itself there have been more than twelve pantries that have debuted. (“Jamil Niner Student Pantry”)

The opportunity we have here is to create an online training program for volunteers, which allows the pantry to run more efficiently. We are working towards implementing an online interactive program that allows volunteers to undergo training before coming in volunteer, in order to make efficient use of their time. The need for services such as this one is more than apparent, especially since “the cost of higher education has risen nearly 580% since 1985, which far exceeds the 120% inflation rate increase during the same period” (“Jamil Niner Student Pantry”). In addition to the effects left behind by the great recession, the rise in the number of non-traditional students, rising tuition, and the rising interest rates on student loans, have led to a growing number of students facing food insecurity. (Thornton, 2015)

Sean Langley, the Assistant Director for Off Campus and Volunteer Outreach, co-founded the Niner Pantry and assists the Pantry in various different capacities. He first became involved in the Niner Student Pantry 2 years ago, when he noticed several students struggling with food insecurity.  Mr. Langley continues to actively educate students about the reality of food insecurity. In his classes, it is a requirement to volunteer at the pantry and gain first hand insight into the struggles many of our peers go through. The pantry not only helps UNCC students, but their families as well, as it allows them to continue attending school and provide for their families, even with meager earnings. (Thornton, 2015) Dr. Kim Buch, a Professor in the Psychology department, is the other co-founder of the Niner Student Pantry. Her motivation for starting this organization was derived from seeing UNCC students dealing with food insecurity as well. The idea for this project was conceived in 2012, when she attended a Hunger Summit at Elon University. She discovered that many universities across the state and nation were opening on-campus food pantries to help address the problem of food insecurity. (“Jamil Niner Student Pantry”)

Another key stakeholder in this organization is Sean Myhand. Sean is currently a junior at UNCC, he began his volunteer work at the pantry as a part of Professor Langley’s class. Myhand helped establish the niner pantry as a student organization, and now is the leader of many of the pantry’s endeavors. His contributions have made the the pantry what it is today, as he developed a website, a social media platform and actively trains volunteers. He also created sponsorship relations with on-campus groups, such as the Student Philanthropy Council as well as with off-campus sponsors, including Bank of America, TIAA and the State Employees Credit Union (“Jamil Niner Student Pantry”, 2016).

This organization is being used by those students at UNCC who are forced to deal with chronic hunger. The target audience are mostly students who live off-campus and don’t have a meal plan, as well as any others who cannot afford to buy food. A common concern among universities is that ordinarily good students, fall behind academically due to malnutrition. Food is something that many of us take for granted. Most of us have never experienced the desperation that comes from a lack of food, and it’s heartbreaking to find out that some of our peers undergo this type of hardship. The Niner Pantry seeks to eradicate this type of suffering from our community, as well as to raise awareness and to educate our campus about food insecurity. (“Campus Food Pantry Aids Students in Need.”)