2024-2025 Mobile Pantry Updates & FAQ
Dear Anteater Community,
In Fall 2023, we launched our newest undertaking, the Mobile Food Pantry. This 2nd pantry model was designed to bring pantry items directly to housing communities and was welcomed with great enthusiasm. It helped us spread the word about our services while making the pantry more accessible for some students.
We learned a lot during our pilot year. We quickly learned that bringing a pantry distribution to an offsite location ready to serve 150+ students was a significant undertaking. The Mobile Food Pantry requires extensive planning, twice as many staff members as our onsite pantry, and additional resources to operate smoothly. Running the Mobile Pantry every week was a big challenge for our team, and we enjoyed being in the UCI Housing communities every Friday.
This past Summer, our team ran the Mobile Pantry weekly to ensure students would continue to have access to pantry resources during a construction project (re-roofing) at our center.
As we reflected on the past academic year and planned for this new year, we found it wasn’t sustainable for our team to continue running the mobile distributions every week. This Fall quarter, 2024, we’ll shift to a once-per-month schedule on a rotating basis in the UCI Housing communities (Verano 8, Palo Verde, and Arroyo Vista). On the other Fridays of the month, we’ll continue serving students through our FRESH Pantry at our center during the same hours (11am to 2pm).
We appreciate your flexibility and support during this time!
The Basic Needs Center Team
Frequently Asked Questions
How are decisions made regarding mobile pantry locations?
Our intention with the Mobile Food Pantry was always to bring the resources closer to the residential student communities furthest from our physical center location.
The housing communities near the ARC are the furthest from our center, thus making it a priority for our distributions.
- During the Summer, we focused on running the Mobile Pantry at Verano 8 due to its central location for graduate and undergraduate student communities (including ACC communities where many undergrads reside during the summer term). Additionally, our data shows that this location is the most attended out of all the locations we tried the previous year.
- Since it takes hours to prepare and load the food and supplies for one mobile distribution, it is important to us that we can serve as many students as possible in one day to maximize our efforts. Having a much smaller team during the summer necessitated that we focus on the most attended location.
- For the 24-25 year, we will return to the 3 housing communities we served in 23-24 in a rotating schedule (Arroyo Vista, Verano 8, and Palo Verde).
Who can attend the Mobile Pantry?
While we have different locations, the Mobile Pantry distributions are meant to support any currently enrolled student on campus. No matter where we are located, any student can stop by to utilize the resource.
Can a friend, spouse, or family member pick up food on my behalf?
Because the mobile pantry is a UCI student resource, it is meant to support currently enrolled UCI students. Students facing a mobility or access barrier may request accommodation via our Mobility Accommodation Form.
How is the Mobile Pantry funded?
The Mobile Pantry and the FRESH Pantry at the Basic Needs Center are stocked and operated with a combination of fund sources, including a State allocation for basic needs, an Undergraduate Referendum Fee “Food Pantry Fee” (in effect until 25-26), donor funds, and food donations from our local community partners (OC Food Bank, Second Harvest Food Bank, Bracken’s Kitchen, local grocery stores, and generous community members, including staff and faculty).
How often can I visit the Mobile Pantry?
UCI students may visit a pantry distribution once per week. This means once per week from a choice of the Fresh Pantry (at the Basic Needs Center) or the Mobile Pantry. Students who need further food security support should connect with a basic needs Campus Social Worker to be assessed for additional resources.
Who can we contact for further questions or information?
The Mobile Pantry is a resource offered by the Basic Needs Center. We welcome questions and feedback and are always happy to support you to the best of our ability.
Please email us at basicneeds@uci.edu or call us at (949) 824-0607, and one of our staff members will promptly address your questions.