From humble beginnings in 2013, operating out of an upper-floor hall closet at South City Campus, to locations at four campuses, the Bruin Pantry has grown into an impactful operation that addresses food insecurities for students and employees at Salt Lake Community College.
As Mike Braak leaves SLCC for the next chapter in his life after leading the Pantry through a pandemic and, more recently, into an era of record high food prices brought about by historic inflation, he sees the pantry’s role as more important than ever, and in more ways than you might think. “There is a lot more to do,” says Braak, who started at the Pantry in 2019 as an Americorps Vista volunteer.
Identifying a need
Once the presence of a supply for free food was established at South City, demands upon the pantry grew. Started by the SLCC Social Work Club, the Bruin Campus Cupboard eventually expanded and moved into a larger first-floor space that also has refrigeration and freezer units. Morphing into the Bruin Pantry, locations were opened at the Taylorsville, Jordan and West Valley campuses between 2016 and 2018. Oversight of a growing Pantry fell under what is now known as the Thayne Center for Student Life, Leadership & Community Engagement.
But the Bruin Pantry has become much more than a place where people, mainly SLCC students, can come and fill up a few bags or boxes with cereal, canned goods and maybe some perishable and prepared items.
Pandemic, inflation - the Pantry comes through
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in full force in March 2020, shuttering schools and cutting off, at least temporarily, employment for many, the Pantry pivoted, formed assembly lines and filled boxes and bags with 15 to 25 pounds of food and dry goods that were handed out – contactless – by the hundreds for weeks at the Taylorsville Redwood Campus. “The need increased during the pandemic, but people also accessed food in different ways,” Braak says. Things began to open back up, government assistance helped a lot of people through tough times and the need waned toward the end of 2021. But those government checks have been spent, and now inflation is being felt more than ever at grocery stores. “Now we are seeing the other end of the pendulum – we’re seeing that need increase again.” Braak says people are once again trying to figure out how to make ends meet.
Throughout 2021, the combined four pantries saw more than 1,100 unique visitors – who tallied 4,562 visits – take nearly 10,000 bags of groceries and supplies. From Jan. 1, 2022, to March 10, about 440 visitors to the pantries – making 1,385 visits total – were given nearly 2,000 bags filled with much needed food and dry goods.
Mostly students access the pantries, but some faculty and staff at SLCC also need the resource, and though the support isn’t marketed to the community at large, sometimes people outside of the college will stop in. No one, however, is turned away. Suddenly out of a job, not making much money, food insecurities can affect anyone, anytime.
Help in other ways
Although volunteers help in times of need, the Pantry has become a place where students can find work and get help paying for school. West Jordan High School graduate Alex Bonifaz, 18, now taking general education courses at SLCC, heard about the Pantry through the SLCC program Peer Action Leaders, which offers students tuition waivers in exchange for work. “For what I get and the work I do,” Bonifaz says, “it’s really good for me.” Mashayla Dalley, a Copper Hills High grad majoring in business management at SLCC, was once homeless and relied on the Bruin Pantry for help. Now a Collegiate DECA member and president of the SLCC chapter of Phi Beta Lambda, Dalley found the Bruin Pantry scholarship opportunity on the college’s website. “My tuition is paid for,” Dalley points out while unloading and storing food at the Taylorsville location alongside Bonifaz.
Americorps Vista volunteers like Braak, when he started out, and now Amanda Rydiger, sign on to serve for a year at the Bruin Pantry. Rydiger, with a degree in public health from Colorado’s Fort Lewis College, arrived at the Pantry in October 2021, and with Braak she’s been working on projects that include outreach, client intake information gathering and nutritional balance. “It’s been really rewarding to see people come in and hear how grateful they are for this resource,” she says. “It makes me feel good.”
When funding is available, the Bruin Pantry can purchase hygiene products and items for babies like wipes and diapers and offer them to clients. Working with SLCC’s Development Office, donations there will sporadically result in the Pantry being able to offer gift cards to people who can’t find what they need at one of the four locations.
Reuse, recycle - a more sustainable approach
Although drives that draw private donations and community gardens (seasonal fruits, vegetables) account for some items the Pantry offers, most of what it takes in throughout the year comes from the Utah Food Bank along with its Grocery Rescue program and in cooperation with Feeding America. As a result, a lot of food – prepared foods, bakery items, frozen meats – previously discarded by grocery stores will be taken in by Utah Food Bank and then shared with operations like Bruin Pantry, shelters and community kitchens. Braak says a big benefit of that program is keeping food out of landfills and putting it in the hands of people who are in need.
If perishable food can’t be handed out and is expired or damaged, Braak says another great thing the Pantry and others are doing these days is working with groups like Wasatch Resource Recovery and Momentum Recycling to either process the wasted food and turn it into biofuel or compost that farmers can use as fertilizer. “Sustainability is really a big part of the work we do,” Braak says. “I think, to be honest, pantries are always going to be a bandage on the financial and food insecurity of folks who need access to more resources. I would like to see the conversation around pantries go toward the area of sustainability. There’s a lot of food waste in this country.” Some estimates put food waste in the U.S. at about 40 percent of what is produced.
The future...
After Braak, who has a background in the culinary arts, has moved on from SLCC, he hopes there will be more efforts to recover food from college catering events or from the campus cafeterias and, if it’s still presentable and edible, offer it at the pantries or at least make sure it doesn’t end up in a landfill. He hopes to see the Pantry also work with students and their “relationship” with food and knowledge of “food literacy” and how to improve the ways in which they interact with the food system, like how to stretch ingredients or access community gardens.
“There is a lot more to do,” Braak says. “If folks want to support this kind of programming, the Pantry can always accept donations for distribution, but putting more resources into scholarships and emergency funding for students can be even more beneficial that way. The Pantry as an emergency resource to access in the short term is a good thing, but connecting people with community organizations, government benefits, financial aid, scholarships, the Students in Crisis Fund, can all make even more of a tangible impact.”
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