UMass Boston’s Office of Urban and Off-Campus Support Services, also known as U-ACCESS, will start a food pantry in order to assist students who cannot afford food.

The food pantry’s goal is “to help students break the cycle of poverty by helping them complete their education,” said Shirley Fan-Chan, the U-ACCESS director, in a press release published by the Office of Communication.

U-ACCESS’s food pantry will give out food bags to provide food to last a month. Currently, the food pantry has enough food to supply 100 bags, but Fan-Chan said that “if the number of students increase, we will increase the number of food bags.” 

The Food Pantry Task Force members hope that local businesses will contribute to this effort. The task force, which consists of six people (both staff and students), is also looking for volunteers to help run the food drives.

Another charitable on-campus organization, the Key For Hope Foundation started collecting keys to melt down for scrap metal in November. The foundation then sold the scrap metal for $70 dollars, which they then donated to the food pantry.

In an interview, Fan-Chan praised the Key For Hope Foundation for their contribution, and said, “We hope to work with the foundation to fundraise for the food pantry in the future.”

Other campus groups and the Student Activities and Events Council have also solicited donations for U-ACCESS. The Glow-in-the-Dark Dance Party held by the Student Activities and Events Council as part of opening week was free to students who brought two cans of food.

The task force will place donation boxes in eight locations throughout the school. Fan-Chan commented that they hope to collect “pasta, pasta sauce, macaroni & cheese, canned tuna and ramen noodles.” She went on to say that the food pantry wants these foods because “those [are] items we know the students will definitely consume.”

Students interested in running a food drive, volunteering with the program or applying to use the pantry can email Fan-Chan at [email protected]. Pantry hours are posted on the U-Access website.