WCU Awarded $60,000

Through the 2023-2024 PA Hunger-Free Campus Grant

WCU's Resource Pantry is located in Commonwealth Hall.

As part of Governor Josh Shapiro’s PA Hunger-Free Campus program, the Governor’s Office and the Pennsylvania Department of Education selected West Chester University to receive $60,000 in state grant funding from the 2023-2024 PA Hunger-Free Campus grant.

Funds from the grant will be used to expand the WCU Resource Pantry’s capacity to serve WCU students experiencing food insecurity — especially those who are at the highest risk — on the University’s main campus as well as at the WCU Philadelphia location. Part of the Center for Civic Engagement & Social Impact (CCESI), the pantry offers non-perishable food, fresh produce from the campus gardens, personal care items, school supplies, and more.

Expressing gratitude to Governor Shapiro and the PA Department of Education, CCESI Director Rita Patel Eng said, “In fall 2023, the Resource Pantry served the highest number of students it has ever served. The need is unprecedented as we operate on the generosity of donors from our community of faculty, staff, students, alumni, countless community partners, and grants like the PA Hunger-Free Campus Grant.”

The grant enables CCESI to expand pantry services through online ordering; increase options for students to access food during evening and weekend hours through online order pickup via locker access; increase access to healthy and allergy-friendly food; support the expansion of the Resource Pantry at the Philadelphia location; build upon resources to support students in applying for benefits through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP); and increase students’ access to off-campus resources.

As a member of the PA Hunger-Free Campus grant’s first cohort of awardees in January of 2023, the University was initially awarded $54,399.

University President Chris Fiorentino, for whom eliminating obstacles to all students’ successful completion of their degrees is paramount, thanked Governor Shapiro and the PA Department of Education “for providing the necessary funding to help West Chester University reach out to an increasing number of students, so they are not in the position of choosing between buying a textbook, a meal, or even basic essentials if they do not have the means to do so.”

Since its inception in 2016, the Resource Pantry has actively supported student success by minimizing food and basic needs insecurity. Open to all undergraduate and graduate students registered at the University regardless of need level, the pantry provides fresh food from the University’s South Campus and Tanglewood gardens, toiletries and school supplies, a welcoming intake space for students, and an area where students can enroll in government benefits called the Benefits Hub. It is supported by the Office of Financial Aid, civics- focused student organizations, and generous donors through the WCU Foundation.