An on-campus food pantry available to all students will open its doors for the first time Monday.

The pantry in the Student Center basement will provide non-perishable food and toiletries to SIU students with a valid student ID card, according to a university news release.

Students will be allowed to get three days worth of food every month, Lori Stettler, interim vice chancellor of student affairs, said during an interview today.

“We are seeing more and more students who are struggling to meet their financial needs and so we started talking about helping students meet that gap,” she said. “Students tell us they have to choose between buying food, buying a textbook or paying rent.”

A competition held within the student affairs department to jump-start the stockpile of food recently collected more than 1,200 items, Stettler said.

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Pantry doors will be open from 3  to 6  p.m. on Mondays and from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Tuesdays, according to the news release.

People interested in volunteering to stock and distribute items should email pantry coordinator Sara Sauerhage at [email protected].

About 300 other institutions in the United States have open student food pantries, according to the College and University Food Bank Alliance.

More information can be found here.

Staff writer Bekah Sanders can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @rsanders_DE.

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