UMW first-years work with CCE Faculty Director Leslie Martin to stock the Eagle Resource Closet, a food pantry on the fifth floor of Lee Hall. Photo by Suzanne Carr Rossi.
Leslie Martin, faculty director of UMW’s Center for Community Engagement and associate professor of sociology, was recently interviewed by WVTF 88.3 Radio IQ about food insecurity among college students and how the Eagle Resource Closet at UMW is addressing this issue.
Many schools around Virginia try to attract students from low-income families with scholarships, grants and loans – but with the cost of living going up, some of those kids run out of cash. That’s prompted universities to open food pantries.
In the attic of an administration building at the University of Mary Washington there’s a large room known as the Eagle Resource Closet. Professor Leslie Martin says you might not know it was there.
“It does provide a lot of privacy,” she explains.
And that’s by design. When the university questioned students they said anonymity was important, and a food pantry was definitely needed.
“We did a survey of students to see how much need there was, and actually almost a quarter of our student population reported being food insecure at some point,” Martin says. Read more.