The University of Mississippi Food Bank will open its doors next Thursday at 12:30 p.m.
Established by a joint committee of students and faculty, the food bank will be located in the old math lab in Kinard Hall.
Dr. Robert Cummings, director of the university’s Center for Writing and Rhetoric, is the faculty sponsor of the project, and the student directors are Jessica Brouckaert and Mary Margaret Saulters.
Brouckaert and Saulters are assisted by Margaret Ann Morgan, who serves as marketing chair.
Cummings said that the university’s success in admitting students who traditionally may not have been able to afford college has revealed some students’ need for help with expenses.
“They are struggling to cope with the expenses of some of the basics, such as food, and students have been showing up hungry and unable to learn,” he said.
Operating under the slogan of “Ending hunger. Building community,” the food bank will be open to all students of the university, and no records will be kept detailing who makes use of the bank.
“It is intended for students; students will need to have a current ID,” Cummings said. “But there will not be any recording of the fact that students have used the service.”
Brouckaert said that many parties have been helpful in establishing the resource.
“Aramark has been great about giving us food vouchers,” Brouckaert said. “We haven’t really gotten to the point where we are ending hunger yet, but there are a lot of student organizations who have been emailing me wanting to do food drives for us.”
Among those organizations is the Sigma Nu fraternity.
“Sigma Nu did a great job hosting Foodstock and collected 3,000 cans for us and wrote us a check for $2,500,” Brouckaert said. “They have even helped us stock the Food Bank and build awareness and community.”
