‘OPEN TO ABUSE’: Shelves at the food pantry corner on Falmouth Campus, pictured at the end of the week (left), vs. when first stocked (right). Photo: Danielle Hutchinson.
A new food pantry has been launched at Falmouth University, but eye-witnesses describe returning to empty shelves ‘within hours’.
A member of FXPlus Student Support Services noticed flaws in the initiative within the first weeks of the launch.
“It was really obvious that it would be open to abuse… people were just loading their bags.
“The particular student that I wanted it to go to… by the time they got to it, there was nothing left.”
‘WE WANT TO HELP STUDENTS’: Photo of the SU Presidents, showing SU President Falmouth, Jadelle, (second from the left). Courtesy of the SU Presidents Instagram page (@supresidents).
The Students Union (SU) opened the food pantry on Falmouth Campus at the beginning of this semester.
SU President Falmouth, Jadelle Luckman, wants to emphasise that the pantry is open to all students.
“It’s really open to all students on a trustworthy basis…we are here to represent all students… and the point is to keep it open so it’s fair.”
Jadelle said that the SU want to make the pantry accessible, rather than targeting the support.
“It’s a really hard situation for students at the moment… we’re trying as much as we can to provide free nutritious meals… and that’s why the pantry is open to all… because in some way or another every student is going to be struggling with the cost of living.”
However, the FXPlus staff member is worried about their vulnerable students.
“You’re asking people who are embarrassed about their financial setting to walk up in front of a lot of other people and be labelled as needing food for free.
“There’s a few students that I know for a fact who need it [who] are terrified of walking towards it for fear of what their peers will think of them.”
Students can access more personalised support through the university ‘Compass’ service, who have provided food packages to those who contact them about their circumstances.
Lucy [name changed for privacy] is a student who has previously used the food package service from the university.
“My rent where I was living was a lot more expensive than my maintenance loan… and I was really struggling to find a job down here.”
She said that she reached out for help but was surprised when she picked up the first package last year.
“I had a very different impression of what the food packages would be… it’s a lot of tinned stuff… they weigh 15kg… Getting that package home was humiliating – they’re not the most discreet.”
‘TAKE WHAT YOU NEED’: Photo showing the new sign added to the pantry after the initial launch on Falmouth Campus. Photo: Danielle Hutchinson.
Lucy also believes that the SU Pantry is ‘very easy to take advantage’ of due to its open location.
“It would be quite easy to go down there and shove a load in my bag and walk off, but I don’t need it now and there are people that do.”
This issue of abusing food support for ‘convenience’ was also something that Lucy noticed with some of her peers using the food package system.
“When you can properly provide for yourself and you’re providing twenty, thirty pounds worth of Dominos to yourself each night, then are you really the person that needs the tin of beans?”
The SU have responded by saying that they will consider moving the pantry to a different location on Falmouth Campus, as well as restocking it more often if there continues to be a high uptake.
They are yet to confirm how much of the SU budget is dedicated to the SU Pantry and their other cost-of-living initiatives, such as ‘Free Soup Fridays’.
The National Union of Students (NUS) are currently petitioning to reform the student funding system in response to the cost-of-living crisis.
The NUS report that ‘65% of us are cutting back on food; in England maintenance loans are leaving most of us with 50p after paying rent’.
‘OPEN TO ALL’: Short on time? Here’s a TL;DR video* overview of the student pantry debate so far, as well as signposting to support services if you’ve been affected by any of the issues raised in this story.
*Music credits can be found in the video description on YouTube.