Need doesn’t take a vacation
KINGSTON, R.I. – June 15, 2023 – School may be out but not for everyone. Rhody Outpost is still open to serve students at the University of Rhode Island who are experiencing basic needs insecurity. The Outpost is open all summer.
During the school year, Rhody Outpost serves approximately 80 students each week. Last week, 56 students visited the Outpost, and its empty shelves are in need of restocking.
Basic needs insecurity is a real challenge on college campuses today. It’s estimated that up to 30% of college students are affected by food insecurity in the United States. The Rhody Outpost food pantry was created to help address this issue at URI.
The pantry provides food and other items at no charge to students and is managed by the Dean of Students Office with staffing by student and community volunteers. The pantry serves all URI students who are food and/or housing insecure and need help making ends meet.
Unfortunately, donations to the pantry drop significantly during the summer.
“Food security is a different challenge in the summer,” says Barbara Sweeney, food security outreach coordinator, as dining halls are open for very limited hours. Many students who live on campus during the summer reside in apartment-style dorms with kitchens. If they don’t have transportation to a grocery store, it can be difficult to acquire food. The Outpost also welcomes international graduate students living on or around campus over the summer, and students and athletes working or training on campus.
This summer, Rhody Outpost is in need of the following items:
rice, cooking oil, pasta, ramen, chickpeas, snacks (chips, crackers, cookies), nuts, peanut butter, jelly, tuna fish, sardines, macaroni and cheese, canned tomatoes (crushed, diced, sauce, etc.), liquid hand soap, dish soap, laundry detergent, and toothpaste.
For an ongoing list of needs, bookmark this request list.
Gift cards to local grocery/drugstores are also always welcome, as are donations directly to Rhody Outpost or via the URI Foundation & Alumni Engagement. (Donors can also give to the URIFAE Students First Fund, and type “Rhody Outpost” in the memo line.)
Staff are asked to help fill the shelves this summer and to share information about the ongoing need in their departments and with other URI friends and supporters.
“Community support is what keeps the Outpost going,” says Sweeney.
She says that every academic college and many departments and offices around URI support the Outpost, with special recognition going to Rebecca Brown in the College of the Environment and Life Sciences who oversees URI’s Agronomy Farm. Brown and her students donate hundreds of pounds of fresh produce from spring through fall for the Outpost.
Rhody Outpost is located at the Dining Services Warehouse, 10 Tootell Road, in Kingston, between Flagg Road and West Alumni Avenue, with the pantry open for pickup on Fridays from 3 to 5:30 p.m. (except holidays), or by appointment.
Not sure where that is? One of the student workers in Dining Services made this handy TikTok that shows how to find the Outpost.
Donations can be dropped off at the Dining Services warehouse between 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. or left in the shed outside of St. Augustine’s Church on Lower College Road anytime.
Learn more about Rhody Outpost or reach out to Barbara Sweeney, 401-874-5633 or barbara_sweeney@uri.edu, with questions. Follow at @urifoodsecurity.