As studies show students with food insecurity suffer in the classroom, colleges across the country have been stepping up to fight hunger on their own campuses. The largest public university in Massachusetts is among them, and recently opened a permanent facility for students and staff alike.
With more student community cupboards and pantries appearing on college campuses, the University of Massachusetts Amherst has taken things a step further.
Run in partnership with the Amherst Survival Center, the university opened a grocery store-like pantry over the weekend, located off of N. Pleasant Street.
Ahead of its official opening, shelves and refrigerators were loaded with produce, milk, eggs and beef jerky, filling part of the former Newman Catholic Center space – an easily accessible spot, says Jake Krain, the pantry’s manager.
“Access is a huge thing and if you don't have something that is accessible, then people won't use it and people won't think that they can use it,” he said. “Having something right here, on campus, where people can see it, it just continues to reinforce that this is for you and that this is for everybody, and you need that.”
Krain and others welcomed dozens of campus members and state officials ahead of the opening on Friday, as the university celebrated the Campus Pantry's completion after two years of planning and development.
Nationally, at least 1 in 3 college students are believed to face food insecurity, the university says. Pinning down an exact figure for UMass Amherst is difficult, says Krain, who estimates as much as 25 percent of the university’s some 32,000 students experience some degree of food insecurity.
Chancellor Javier Reyes tells WAMC getting the pantry up and running was critical.
“You have to start with basic needs, and food is a basic need,” he said, standing beside a row of peanut butter and snack bags. “You can't just go around your day without knowing where the next meal will come from - it takes your mind away from whatever you're going to be able to do. So, being able to remove that then allows you to really unleash your creativity, unleash your potential, without that restriction.”
Calling access to food a basic human right, Lev BenEzra, executive director of the nonprofit Amherst Survival Center, says the university’s partnership and pantry should lead to over 2,000 people being served in its first year.
The pantry itself is about the size of a small grocery mart, with veggies, canned goods and other foods filling the shelves inside it.
Each food stuff sports a number – its respective point total. Half-a-dozen eggs is one point, while a cucumber or bok choy weighs in at two.
“The way it works is, you are given a set amount of points to use each month based on the size of your household, so if you have a partner or dependents - you can shop for not only yourself, but your entire household,” Krain explains. “Say you're a household of one – it’s 70 points, and you can spend those 70 points however you like, until you run out or the beginning of the next month.”
He tells WAMC 2,000 students are already registered to use the pantry, which also serves another part of the campus community: university staff.
“The campus pantry is not only about providing food, it is about creating access and dignity and belonging right here where students live and learn,” she said. “It is also about us recognizing the realities that many of the employees on this campus face as they are also working hard and struggling to provide for themselves and their families. It is about removing the stigma, normalizing that we all need help sometimes, and building a campus culture where everyone has their needs met and can thrive.”
In addition to food drives and other donations, organizers say food from the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts will support the pantry’s mission.
Speaking with WAMC earlier this year, the Food Bank’s Director of Programs, Christina Maxwell, said tackling food insecurity on campuses means helping a population many often don’t think of as dealing with food insecurity.
“… and many of those students are also housing insecure and are oftentimes working in addition to going to school, and many of them are parents,” Maxwell said of public university and college students across the state. “The burdens that are on those students are really overwhelming, and there are programs that are new and being put in place to support those students a little bit better. Some college campuses have pantries on them now, which is great. So, they're definitely being included in the conversation, but that's sort of a hidden population.”
UMass Amherst officials tell WAMC the university is budgeting at least $600,000 a year for the pantry.
The campus pantry is open on Tuesdays, as well as Thursday through Saturday.
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This piece originally aired on Monday, Sept. 8, 2025.
