Yes, Penn State University provides many different interventions to prevent or alleviate hunger among students. For example:

  • Campus food pantries: All Penn State campuses have food pantries on campus or in the community. The food pantries on all campuses are dedicated to supporting food insecure students/staff on campus by support to students, faculty, and staff experiencing food insecurity. The pantries offer free, nutritious food and other essentials. A listing can be found on the Food Support and Basic Resources website.
  • In 2024, the Food Recovery Network (FRN), started and run by students, provided 9,880 meals from 9,153 pounds (~4,150 kg) of food recovered from five collections each week from five campus dining halls, Beaver Stadium (University sorts stadium), THON events (student fundraising dance maraTHON event that raises money for childhood cancer), and the Bryce Jordan Center. A total of 63 volunteers gave 113 hours in the effort, donating to shelters, pantries, and other organizations in need.
  • In January, 2024 Penn State announced it had been awarded a $60,000 Hunger-Free Campus grant to support student basic needs.
  • Greater Allegheny’s Food Security Initiative includes a Pop-Up Market mobile food pantry, Meal Plan Support services, and Campus Grab & Go Stations which are strategically and discreetly placed in high traffic areas on campus frequented by students. Offerings included small containers of canned fruit, sealed containers with granola bars and crackers, and other snacks that are nutritious and easy to eat on the run.
  • The Student Farm operates a Feed the People market stand at the student union every autumn, a pay what you can vegetable market.
  • Market East on the 1st floor of Findlay Commons on the University Park campus accepts SNAP (Supplementary Nutrition Assistance Program) payment.
  • The Penn State Student Advisory Council on Student Poverty was formed in October 2021 as an initiative between the University Park Undergraduate Association and Student Affairs.
  •  Results from a pilot survey, the Food and Housing Needs Survey results, reported in the May, 2022 Penn State News story “Penn State shares results of Food and Housing Needs Survey” – helped the University learn more about the prevalence of need across each Penn State campus, including Penn State’s World Campus which provides education online.
  • Based on initial feedback from the pilot survey, thousands of students across the University completed the Penn State Food and Housing Needs Survey, which closed on Oct. 21, 2022. Results indicated that 14.6% of respondents identify “moderately well” to “extremely well” with the statement that they have “trouble securing enough food each day” and that “Over 14% of students (across all campuses) indicated that within the last 30 days they did not eat for an entire day due to being unable to afford food.”
  • Student Care and Advocacy, a unit of Penn State Student Affairs, coordinated outreach to students at every campus whose survey results indicated a varying level of need related to securing basic resources. The outreach included emails to share resources and individual meetings to provide additional support.
  • In February 2021, Penn State released the Food and Housing Security Task Force Report that included a baseline analysis of the issues and recommendations.
  • Former University President Eric Barron and his wife Molly made a gift to establish a Food Security Endowment to support the purchase of University meal plans for undergraduates encountering food insecurity.
  • Penn State researchers, focusing on Pennsylvania, analyzed survey data to assess the most recent levels of household food security, how food security has changed over the course of the pandemic, and how households in different income brackets have experienced the crisis. They also assessed how families have adapted to food insufficiency by accessing free food and released their findings in a Data Brief titled “Pennsylvania Food Insufficiency Reached New High at the End of 2020.”

 

Learn more about Penn State’s progress towards the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals HERE and on SDG 2 HERE.