What to know about the Spartan Pantry

Eric D. Rangel, Staff Writer|October 23, 2022

  • ECC second-year student Brian Awosika shops for food and goods at the Spartan Pantry on Oct. 21, 2022.

    Vansh Patel
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  • Second-year ECC student Brian Awosika, picks up a pouch of fruit snacks at the Spartan Pantry on Oct. 21, 2022.

    Vansh Patel
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  • The fresh produce sign on the vegetable rack.

    Vansh Patel
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  • A Spartan Pantry shelf filled with canned foods, including chicken noodle soup.

    Vansh Patel
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  • Second-year ECC student Brian Awosika picking up a pack of crackers at the Spartan Pantry on Oct. 21, 2022.

    Vansh Patel
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  • Various snacks sit on a Spartan’s Pantry shelf.

    Vansh Patel
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  • The open sign in the Spartan’s Pantry.

    Vansh Patel
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The Spartan Pantry is a non-profit organization that is sponsored by the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society at Elgin Community College. The pantry is there to help students who are limited financially and do not have easy access to food. Any student, regardless of income, can go and grab a snack or drink.

In February 2014, student leaders of PTK noticed that student’s academic progress was being hindered due to their lack of food and proposed the Spartan Pantry idea to ECC President Dr. David Sam.

The pantry has been able to continue by helping countless students get access to food and drinks so they do not have to worry about what their next meal will be.

Students can utilize student the Spartan pantry if they are hungry, or if they need personal hygiene items like toothbrushes.

“I feel like it’s straight forward; the process isn’t overly complicated,”  said Tyler Ponce the PTK spartan pantry officer. “The process consists of the student writing down their student ID number, their first and last name, and their student email.”

 According to the Spartan food Pantry data, between summer of 2016 and fall of 2019, the pantry has experienced over 10,000 individual visits. During the spring of 2020, the pantry only had 162 visits, but had to shut down on Mar. 17, 2020 due to COVID-19.

During the fall semester of 2020 the pantry partially reopened, and had a total of 233 individual visits that year. After the pantry reopened in 2021 there was a total of 1,232 visits.

Currently the Spartan Pantry is understaffed and PTK is looking for more people to help out in any way around

According to Ponce the pantry is looking for donations to restock the pantry. Donations can be made directly at the Spartan Pantry in Building B or at Student Life. Student Life can also provide a form so that donations can be a tax write-off.

About every two weeks, the pantry is restocked with items that can include canned goods, eggs, yogurts and items with a long shelf life.

“At the moment that stuff that’s just hard for us to budget for, which is more expensive, would be like our hygiene products,” Ponce said.