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A study of 51 Grand View University students found that 31.4 percent of respondents have experienced food insecurity at some point in their life. In 2019, one in eight Iowans are food insecure. Food insecurity is defined as the state of being without reliable access to enough affordable, nutritious food.

Many people at GV and in the surrounding community struggle with food insecurity. Some do not have money to buy food, others do not have a car and still, others do not have a kitchen in their living space on campus for food preparation.

Heidi Pries works in the Student Life Office and is involved with many philanthropic projects. She was a part of the group that created the first food pantry in front of Luther Memorial Church last year.

“When you think about being on a private college campus, you’re thinking ‘Well if you have money to go to college you probably have money for food,’” Pries said. “And that’s not always the case.”

Pries said food insecurity is a problem for many on the east side of Des Moines.

“According to the Des Moines Area Religious Council, 646 people living within one mile of GV used a DMARC food pantry, and over the course of 2018, nearly 3,000 people from within a mile radius used a food pantry,” Pries said. “And a third of those are youth under the age of 18.”

Recently, Grand View students Nerma Turan, Mikayla Erickson, Nolan Chapman, and Brandon Anderson made a second food pantry that is located in the Student Center.

“For our project management class, we wanted to do something to benefit the GV community,” Turan said. “We noticed that we had the other food pantry on the other side of campus by the church, and we wanted to make another one for this side of campus. Our original idea was to have it on wheels so we can wheel it in and outside. However, we realized having it outside, even in the warmer months, probably wouldn’t be the best idea. So in order to protect it, we decided to keep it inside in the Student Center, where a lot of people spend their time.”

According to Turan, the food pantry did not cost anything to make because the GV Maintenance Department made it out of old cabinets, and Turan’s group just had to paint it. The food in the pantry was donated by Hy-Vee and Pries.

“We reached out to Heidi to get approval for the project, and then we reached out to maintenance — Kim Butler specifically,” Turan said. “Kim was in charge of communicating with us to the build the project, but we were the ones who initiated it.”

Turan said in addition to combating food insecurity, the food pantry will be nice for people who have dietary needs that could conflict with what is provided at the cafeteria.

For the students who wish to get involved or need more options from a food pantry, Pries said: “We will have DMARC’s mobile food pantry with the big trailer on our campus twice a month, on Thursdays. One Thursday … it’ll be in the parking lot behind the Humphrey Center. The other Thursday it’ll be in one of the commuter lots by Rasmussen … in the late afternoon.”

For exact dates, times and locations, students should keep an eye out for emails from Chelsea Moore.