By BAILEY RANKIN, Student Reporter
You enter Shockley Hall and look left and right. You see a sign with an arrow pointing you in a specific direction. You follow it. Then, you see it: A table with a sheet of paper on it. You grab a pen and write down the number you were assigned. You are at the Campus Cabinet.
The Northwestern Campus Cabinet food pantry provides food and other necessities to students and faculty members in need. Angila Case, the organization’s coordinator, said that the organization wants to help people obtain food and goods they need.
“We are here to serve our students and our employees who need a little hand,” Case said.
Any student currently enrolled at Northwestern who has a valid student ID can qualify to receive assistance from the Campus Cabinet. Any employee of Northwestern can receive assistance as well.
Individuals who need food or other goods must fill out a short application on their first visit to the Campus Cabinet. Only volunteers at the food pantry will see the information provided on the form, which is used for internal reporting. Users’ personal information will remain confidential. The organization uses only statistical information.
“We are careful about privacy.” Case said. That is important to us.”
The food pantry is staffed entirely by volunteers, and each volunteer is trained in privacy protection. Volunteers cannot engage in conversations with Campus Cabinet clients unless the clients initiate the conversation first.
“We just don’t want to draw attention to [our clients] if they don’t want that,” Case said.
HOW TO GET INVOLVED
A food drive that took place during move-in week left the food pantry with a large amount of food, but the Campus Cabinet is still accepting monetary donations and donations of food.
According to Case, the food pantry took in 308 pounds of food during the food drive, which was organized by the housing and residential life department. In total, the food pantry collected 95 pounds of Ramen Noodles, 108 pounds of soup, and 14 pounds of macaroni and cheese.
The food pantry also received two mini-fridges during the event, allowing volunteers to store milk for the first time. Clients may request milk by filling out an online form for the food pantry, which is available at https://www.nwosu.edu/campus-cabinet.
The organization lists the most highly requested food items on its website.
Food pantry officials ask that students fill out a form to request the food items they need. If a client has food allergies or other dietary restrictions, the client should speak with a food pantry volunteer before food pickup, which takes place in Shockley Hall room 108 every Wednesday from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Case said that food pantry volunteers understand the struggles of college students, and she said the food pantry is there to help them.
“We just want to help,” she said. “College is hard, and it is not just in the class. You get up here and you find your independence for the first time.
Many people want to do it on their own, or many people don’t have help behind them but they are still doing it. We’re just that little bit of help. It’s sincerely such a good feeling.”
