Smart Little Campus Food Pantries: Addressing food insecurity at Virginia Commonwealth University

Abstract

Food insecurity among college students is an emerging public health issue, affecting a considera­ble proportion of the student population nation­wide, approximately 35–45%. Research is discover­ing links between college student food insecurity and physical and mental health, as well as academic performance. Such high prevalence of student food insecurity highlights the urgency of addressing the lack of consistent access to nutritious food. This research examines a pilot intervention at an urban public university that deployed miniature food pan­tries across campus from which anyone could take food anonymously. The research team systemati­cally restocked these pantries with food on a weekly basis for nearly two school years. Sensors installed in the pantries collected instances when individuals “interacted” with the pantry’s door. The sensor system documented thousands of interac­tions with the pantries each school year. As such, the intervention can be considered a success. How­ever, the miniature pantry model was not without flaws: its decentralized nature created challenges for the research team, the sensor system was often unstable, and heavy reliance on undergraduate stu­dents proved a long-term problem. The research team believes that administrative and information technology improvements could further enhance the model’s ability to mitigate campus food insecu­rity. This intervention could be an inspiration to other campuses and other institutions considering similar strategies.