Wednesday, April 21st, 2021

The Academic Senate Committee on Committee on Food Insecurity of the Academic Senate met on Wednesday, April 21st, 2021, 1:00 - 2 P.M, Zoom

Committee Members in Attendance:

Food Insecurity Meeting via Zoom

Wednesday April 21st, 2021 1:00-2:00 PM

 

In attendance: Jonathan Cornick, Emily Tai, Nicole McClam, Amy Traver, Ashlie Klepper, Ronni Weprin, Jun Shin, Dee Brodbar, Christopher Roblodowski, Interim Vice President Elen Hartigan

 

• Minutes from last meeting were approved by committee

 

Special Shout Outs

 

• Thank you Ronni for organizing the pantry pick up event!
• Thank you Amy for organizing the monetary collection to buy feminine and hygiene products for out students
• Thank you to non-committee members for volunteering to work pantry hour

 

Summer Hours

• Summer operation was discussed and due to annual leave, faculty can not be required to work pantry hours. 
• VP Hartigan suggested hiring student employees through CUNY Recovery Corps program to work summer hours at the pantry. They would be managed and trained by Ronni and work 25 hours a week/$15 per hour.
• In the past when campus was open, summer pantry requests were low to begin with, so having open hours may not be necessary. One option may be to have occasional volunteers come in to pack bags/check expiration dates and those bags be distributed in a need by basis from a safety officer or volunteer. 
• Student’s struggle for food security will still be a problem in the summer despite students not requesting pantry access so encouraging students to reach out to ARC for help can get them a gift card to buy groceries. Although this is a good option, a lot of students are apprehensive because of having to supply name and address. Vice President Hartigan is going to look into whether or not this reporting is required. “Students don't need roadblocks, they need pathways” 

 

Pantry Protocol 

 

• In discussion with President Mangino, Vice President Hartigan emphasized that the pantry is for students and students only. They will be printing a flyer in different languages that we can give out to pantry visitors who are not members of the community. The handout will list resources and local pantries for them to utilize. 
• The pantry will not be accessible for any person getting the vaccine. The vaccine center is set up in the RFK building and therefore it is unlikely to get people wandering in from the public. 

Promoting the Pantry

• Monday May 17th from 11-1:30 pm there will be an event for the food pantry. Pantry volunteers can help by packing bags before and working the event. Please share with students and encourage them to RSVP.

• Volunteer wise and donation wise, our pantry is in excellent shape. But due to the pandemic, we are in an excess of food and we need to find ways to keep promoting the pantry.
• In the fall semester, perhaps we send out a call in the community dialogue, where we encourage professors to put an excerpt in their syllabus about the pantry. Committee members can take some time to write this excerpt up so we can share it with others. 
• Another suggestion is promoting the pantry during freshman orientation as well as other beginning of the semester events. 
• Vice President Hartigan suggested in the future (when back on campus) having a pizza party hosted by the committee. This will keep our students fed, help remove the stigma and bring more traffic to the pantry. 

Looking Forward 

• Next meeting in May will be elections
• Ashlie is running for Chair
• We need someone to run for secretary 

 

Respectfully submitted,
Ashlie Klepper

Liaisons in Attendance:

Ms. Ronni Weprin, Administrative Liaison

Dr. Emily Tai, Senate Designee

 

Business:

The meeting was called to order at 1:00 PM

Food Insecurity Meeting via Zoom

Wednesday February 17th, 2021 1:00-2:00 PM

In attendance: Jonathan Cornick, Emily Tai, Nicole McClam, Amy Traver, Ashlie Klepper, Ronni Weprin, Jun

Shin, Dee Brodbar, Kathleen Alves, Christopher Roblodowski

 

● Minutes from last meeting were approved by committee

 

Shout Outs

❖ Shout out to Vice President Kerr for his wonderful new opportunity! We will miss you and

thank you for your service to our committee and our school

❖ Shout out to Amawati for her award!

❖ Shout out to Jun who has been our sole pantry worker this semester

❖ The NYC council gave community college food pantries $20,000 to spend between now and

June!!!

 

Staffing the pantry for the Spring 2021 semester

❖ As of now, due to covid as well as schedule conflicts, the pantry is only open on Fridays 10-12 with

Jun running it.

❖ Last week Yusuf Gurtas from the math dept volunteered and met with Jun to see how the pantry is run

❖ Going forward it would be nice to have pantry hours on Monday and Fridays- however, we need

consistent volunteers for these days.

❖ Going forward there is potential for additional faculty volunteers outside of our committee. However,

we do not know if those hours will count towards a faculty's CV and service to the college. This may

affect how many faculty will actually volunteer.

❖ Pending approval from administration, we will send out a correspondence to faculty on campus

seeking pantry volunteers. In the meantimes, committee members are encouraged to talk to their

chairs about it.

❖ Public Safety expressed concerns about students demanding entry into the pantry- it seems they are

fine helping us out and giving out pantry bags as long as we have them packed. Moving forward,

volunteers can focus on packing bags during their volunteer hours.

❖ Some students want to know what's in the pantry so Jonathan will compile a list to share with students

and possibly put on the pantry website.

 

Student Outreach

❖ Discussion on how we can do more student outreach since a majority of our students have never been

to campus and may feel anxious about coming to the pantry. One way to rectify this is through word

of mouth from students.

❖ One way students may feel more connected to the school is if we can get gift cards to those in need

❖ Students who contact Amawati are the ones who get the gift cards in variances from $50-100

❖ Ronni will check in with Amawati on whether students are eligible for gift cards without registering

❖ There is a student activity event next week that Jonathan will attend and speak at to spread the word of

the Food Pantry and ARC

 

Respectfully submitted,

Ashlie Klepper
Committee on Committee on Food Insecurity of the Academic Senate, Secretary