The food pantry in the Catholic Student Center will be open solely to Alamo Colleges students, faculty and staff starting Monday.
Economics Professor Susan Spencer said Oct. 26, "When you're new, we need to see that you're connected to the colleges, just once."
To be able to use the food pantry, go to the center, fill out an application and present your college ID.
"Other than that, we rely on the honesty of the people," she said.
Spencer said she started the project as a service learning assignment for her economics class in fall 2008.
After doing research on hunger in San Antonio, Spencer said Aug. 8, "We were surprised to see college students were included. Students were dropping out (because of hunger issues)."
Spencer is also an adviser of Beta Nu, this college's chapter of Phi Theta Kappa, an international honor society for two-year colleges. PTK primarily runs the food pantry.
Their motto is "feed a body, feed a mind," Spencer said.
She said it fits well with the service provided at the food pantry.
"Phi Theta Kappa took over the pantry, while students in my service learning class helped build it and work at it," Spencer said.
The pantry gets supplies from food drives and private donations and is an agent of the San Antonio Food Bank.
"We get a lot of food from the food bank for free or for cheap," Spencer said.
College Connections recruiter Audrey Grams said the San Antonio Food Bank is running low on food; therefore: they need volunteers to donate food.
"The shelves are bare," she said. "We have money in our account, but there isn't food to buy."
The pantry used to serve the district and residents in the 78212 ZIP code, but a high demand forced changes.
Spencer said the pantry was serving more than 60 people a day in the last three months, and it was wiping out their stock.
She said they want to make sure students and staff who come after work get served so they changed hours.
Spencer said starting next week, the pantry will be open from noon-4 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday in the Catholic Student Center.
"If we fill up, we will expand back to Tuesdays," she said, adding the operation hours will be reviewed to make sure the pantry is available to those who need it when they can get to it.
She said they will wait to see if there is a better time.
Other contributors and volunteers of the pantry include other campus groups, such as the business administration department and architecture program, and faculty.
"It takes a village to support," she said.
To be a member of PTK, students must have a 3.5 or better GPA, have completed 12 hours and must be currently enrolled in at least six hours. An important component of membership is community service.
In summer, the food pantry won a $5,000 grant in the Pepsi Refresh Project grant program.
Grams, formerly service learning coordinator at this college, nominated the pantry in the food and shelter category.
With the money, Grams said Oct. 22, the chapter bought a "chest freezer, stand-up freezer, refrigerator with freezer and paid for some repairs on a donated refrigerator."
She said it also paid for insurance for the building and the people who get food there.
She said they still have $1,000 left over.
Spencer said Aug. 8, the funds will be put to good use because the pantry plans to buy turkeys for the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.
Each month, Pepsi awards up to 32 grants to "people, businesses and nonprofits with ideas that will have a positive impact," the project's website at www.refresheverything.com reads.
Beta Nu was one of 10 from the "food and shelter" category that won for July.
Pepsi gives 10 grants in the $5,000, $25,000 and $50,000 categories and two grants in the $250,000 category, every month to organizations in six main causes: health, arts and culture, food and shelter, the planet, neighborhoods, and education.
"I learned about the Pepsi Refresh Grant Program through Facebook," Grams said Aug. 9.
"I looked into the whole grant process and saw that a few food pantries were winning in the $5,000 category, so I thought I could go for one, too."
Throughout the campaigning to promote the food pantry, Grams discovered that teams could form alliances with other teams, and they would promote each other.
"I started an alliance in the middle of May, which landed us in a 23 spot at the end of May," Grams said. "In June, we started at No. 1."
Voting for Beta Nu's food pantry opened on May 1, and in April, Grams and Beta Nu worked together to get votes.
"I posted a lot of Facebook walls, sent out e-mails and wrote to all the media," Grams said. "I was on ‘Great Day SA' and was interviewed at Clear Channel Communication."
Once a group is nominated, anyone with an e-mail address can vote for projects they think will have a positive impact.
Grams said she nominated the pantry for the $50,000 Pepsi grant last month, but it wasn't accepted.
She said contestants can submit their idea as many times as they want, so PTK members plan to all submit the pantry at midnight Sunday.
She said it takes a month to review, and if they get in, they will be eligible for December's grant.
This semester, Grams was moved to a position under evening, weekend and distance education, recruiting high school students to this college and the district.
Although Grams said she cannot be as involved as she used to be because of her position change, she said she is still going to volunteer and help when she can.
She and Spencer attended Food for SA, a kickoff event for food banks, where they met potential donors.
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