A car pulled into the Red Lot 3 roundabout in the northwest corner of the Penguin Union Building. Sarah Gruhler, Clark’s director of Student Life, stepped up to the car and greeted a Clark student through the passenger window.  

“Good morning! Where would you like your box?” 

Gruhler, pictured at the left, who coordinates Penguin Pantry, found the student’s name on the list, asked a few questions and then turned to the crew of student volunteers and said, “Food box, two meals and a gift card.” 

Volunteers carried the food to the car and loaded it into the trunk. The student drove away with a large box of food, two holiday dinners and a $25 Safeway gift card.  

During its November distribution on the 21^st and 22^nd, the Penguin Pantry distributed 6,716 pounds of food and served 221 students plus their families, for a total of 755 people assisted.  

That’s a 70% increase from pantry statistics last November, when the pantry distributed 3,900 pounds of food and served 130 students, for a total of 431 people.  

“We are definitely seeing an increase in the use of pantry services,” Gruhler said. 

Food insecurity is a real concern  

Penguin Pantry marked its fifth year in July. The pantry supports a healthy college community by reducing hunger and food insecurity on campus and connecting students with essential resources. The pantry has become an important resource to help Clark College students stay on the path to graduation. Penguin Pantry’s assistance is welcomed by students who are navigating inflation and skyrocketing food and housing costs that have created barriers for students trying to stay in school and complete their degrees. 

Studies have shown a direct correlation between college students’ food insecurity and their ability stay in school.  

• Inside Higher Ed reported on a study of community college students and food and housing that found nearly a third of community college students ran out of food in the last 30 days and they didn’t have money to buy more food. 
• Best Colleges reports that about 23% of college students were food-insecure in 2020, and that number increased during the pandemic. The study also reported that food insecurity affected students’ grades and graduation rates. 
• Another study by Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health reported that “food insecurity among college students is associated with lower college graduation rates.”  

Hunger: The local story 

Increasingly, more people are seeking food assistance from food pantries nationwide. Clark College’s Penguin Pantry is not alone in seeing more local people seeking assistance. 

Locally, the FISH of Vancouver pantry in downtown Vancouver continues to see client numbers increase. During the week of November 12-18, FISH of Vancouver welcomed 90 new clients, served 881 households, and fed a total of 3,375 people. Clark College students also can receive food assistance from FISH of Vancouver. 

FISH Executive Director James Fitzgerald said, “We are so thankful for community support that allows us to serve so many more people in need. We are glad to be a place people can come for food to help supplement their budgets and make ends meet.” 

Although Penguin Pantry receives some food from Clark County Food Bank, most of Penguin Pantry’s food is purchased through local stores with funds from donors. 

Clark County Food Bank manages 8 million pounds of food each year, which is equivalent to 6.7 million meals for individuals and families experiencing hunger. It works with 43 nonprofit partner agencies at 130 distribution sites, along with food bank led programs, to serve neighbors facing food insecurity throughout Clark County.  

Clark County Food Bank’s annual Walk & Knock food drive is this Saturday, December 2. You can participate by volunteering or by filling a bag with nonperishable food and putting it on your doorstep by 9 a.m. on Saturday. Here are the statistics for last year’s Walk & Knock: 2,200 volunteers, 150,753 pounds of food and toiletries donated, and $31,000 in cash donations.  

Finding food assistance: For students and others in the Clark College community who seek food assistance, find available food pantries (including Penguin Pantry) and other resources with Clark County Food Bank’s Food Finder Tool. 

How students can request a monthly pre-packaged food box: 

1. Log into MyClark@Clark 

2. Look for the Penguin Pantry Order Form (right navigation) under Get Started 

3. Fill out the form completely, and submit 

4. Your confirmation email with a pick-up date/time. 

If students need immediate assistance with food, housing, and/or other basic needs, visit the following Clark County community resources: 

• Clark County Food Bank 
• Council for the Homeless 

How you can donate to Penguin Pantry: 

• Online: Give online with Clark College Foundation’s online giving form. 
• By mail: Send your check/money order to:  
  Clark College, Attn: Cashier’s Office (PUB 153)  
  1933 Ft. Vancouver Way, Vancouver, WA 98663. 
  Write the check to “Clark College” and write “Penguin Pantry” in the lower left note area. 

Learn more at https://www.clark.edu/campus-life/student-support/penguinpantry/index.php 

If you’ve ever had to plan, shop for, and prepare a holiday meal that included turkey with all the trimmings, imagine the work it takes to prepare Thanksgiving dinner for 450 people!

That is exactly the task undertaken by students and instructors in Clark’s Cuisine program and Professional Baking & Pastry Arts program. They prepared holiday meals for students and their families—a total of 450 people. The meals will be distributed during the Penguin Pantry’s November drive-through pantry pickup.

To demonstrate the enormity of the task, Chef Aaron Guerra (above) shared his shopping list: 142 pounds of turkey breast, plus four 18-to-20-pound turkeys to make stock and gravy. Add to that a mountain of potatoes. (How many pounds of potatoes does it take to make mashed potatoes for 450 people?) Don’t forget the must-have side dishes: gravy, dressing, cranberry-orange sauce, and vegetables.

Alison Dolder, head of the Professional Baking & Pastry Arts program, supervised her students in baking 450 dinner rolls and 450 fruit bars for dessert. Last year, her students made full-size pies for the holiday pantry, but packaging slices of pie without them looking messy made her rethink the dessert menu.

Dolder said, “This year, students made three varieties of fruit bars: apple, marionberry, and raspberry. They are as delicious as a slice of pie—and they hold together much better. We’ll have the full-size pies for the culinary kiosk sales next week.”

Cuisine students assembled the completed meals in a production line. The boxed meals are being stored in a cooler until Penguin Pantry distribution day from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Tuesday, November 21.

The Penguin Pantry distributes food to students monthly, but in November, the distribution also includes these holiday meals.

Director of Student Life Sarah Gruhler, who supervises Penguin Pantry, said, “Students really appreciate the homemade food made by our students. They love all the extras—from a turkey dinner to laundry detergent to Safeway gift cards. These extras the pantry provides allow students to use their resources in other ways—like paying their electric bill. We don’t want students having to choose between food or electricity and heat.” Gruhler added, “Penguin Pantry helps ease the financial burden of our students.

She demonstrated the need the pantry provides for financially stretched students and their families. The pantry received a bonus shipment of fresh dairy, frozen meat, and meal kits from Clark County Food Bank. Over two days this week, Penguin Pantry did two “pop-up” distributions to get this perishable food to students in a timely manner.

She said, “We gave out almost 2,000 pounds of food in two days.”

If you would like to give specifically for holiday meals for students, donors can give via Clark College Foundation online.

About Penguin Pantry

Penguin Pantry marked its fifth year in July. The pantry supports a healthy college community by reducing hunger and food insecurity on campus and connecting students with essential resources. The pantry has become an important resource to help Clark College students stay on the path to graduation. The global pandemic, inflation, and skyrocketing prices have created more barriers for students trying to stay in school and complete their degrees.

During the 2022-23 academic year, the pantry served:

• 511 Individual students
• 1,863 family members of students
• 1,243 boxes of food distributed
• 31,000 pounds of food distributed

How students can request a monthly pre-packaged food box:

1. Log into MyClark@Clark

2. Look for the Penguin Pantry Order Form (right navigation) under Get Started

3. Fill out the form completely, and submit

4. Your confirmation email with a pick-up date/time.

If students need immediate assistance with food, housing and/or other basic needs, please visit the following Clark County community resources:

• Clark County Food Bank
• Council for the Homeless

How to donate to Penguin Pantry:

• Online: Give online with Clark College Foundation’s online giving form and choose ‘Penguin Pantry’ from the drop-down menu.
• By mail: Mail your check/money order to: Clark College, Attn: Cashier’s Office (PUB 153), 1933 Ft. Vancouver Way. Write the check to “Clark College” and write “Penguin Pantry” in the comments area.

Learn more at https://www.clark.edu/campus-life/student-support/penguinpantry/index.php

Clark’s food pantry for students marks its fifth anniversary in July. Penguin Pantry had a soft opening on July 24, 2017, and an official grand opening on October 25, 2017.  

Penguin Pantry supports a healthy college community by reducing hunger and food insecurity on campus and connecting students with essential resources. Over the past five years, the pantry has become an important resource to help Clark College students stay on the path to graduation. The global pandemic, inflation, and skyrocketing prices have created more barriers for students trying to stay in school and complete their degree.  

Director of Student Life Sarah Gruhler, who supervises Penguin Pantry, says it is helping to ease the financial burden of students.  

“The Penguin Pantry was created to address student hunger at Clark,” said Gruhler. “The goal is to provide support for students’ basic needs and serve as a bridge to campus and community resources. We want students to persist to graduation and goal completion – and know the pantry can help with this.” 

Increasing Needs 

Since the beginning of the pandemic, food banks nationwide have witnessed sharp increases in the number of people facing food insecurity and accessing emergency food aid. This correlates to significant increases in the cost of food, housing, fuel, and utilities. 

• Clark County Food Bank reported an increase in food insecurity since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, Clark County Food Bank provided food to more than 23 percent of the population of Clark County.  
• In 2021, 40% of students at community and technical colleges nationwide were food insecure, according to the Seattle-based nonprofit organization Northwest Harvest.   
• In 2017 when the Penguin Pantry opened, almost half of Clark’s student body was classified as lower income, according to data from the college’s Office of Planning & Effectiveness 
• In 2018, campus-wide surveys indicated that 43% of Clark students were low-income and 23% had dependent children. 

Any currently enrolled Clark College student may access pantry services simply by filling out an online form on MyClark@Clark. Food is distributed once per month, usually on the last Tuesday of the month. 

Before the pandemic, students shopped for food by walking into the Penguin Pantry inside the Penguin Union Building. But the COVID pandemic changed the delivery model to a no-contact, seamless curbside pickup system on the side of Gaiser Hall off Fort Vancouver Way. That delivery method continues today. Students make appointments to pick up their food, pull their car into the lot, pop their trunk, and staff and volunteers load the food box into the trunk. 

Penguin Pantry Q & A with Sarah Gruhler 

Q: How much food does Penguin Pantry distribute during an academic year? 

 During the 2022-23 academic year the pantry has served:  

• 511 Individual students
• 1,863 family members of students  
• 1,243 boxes of food distributed 
• 28,630 pounds of food distributed 

SG: Each month the pantry also offers a bonus item – either toiletries (shampoo, conditioner, soap, toothpaste, toothbrush, and deodorant), laundry soap, or toilet paper and a gift card to Fred Meyer or Safeway. 

Q: What are the most popular items? 

SG: The items we hear most about are our bonus items like laundry soap and gift cards. Students express a lot of thanks for those items. 

Q: Where does Penguin Pantry get its food?  

SG: Thanks to donations from community partners, we purchase shelf-stable items from Costco and get supplemental items as we can from Clark County Food Bank. 

Q: Is the pantry paid for by donations? 

SG: Yes. Other than staffing, Penguin Pantry is supported by donations. Faculty and staff are our main contributors, through monthly contributions and during our annual Thanksgiving meal drive. Anyone can donate via Clark College Foundation. 

Upcoming Penguin Pantry distribution: 

• Tuesday, August 29 
• Tuesday, October 24 

How students can request a monthly pre-packaged food box: 

1. Log into MyClark@Clark 

2. Look for the “Penguin Pantry Order Form” located in the right navigation list under Get Started 

3. Fill out the form completely and submit 

4. You will receive a confirmation email with your food box pick-up date and time.  

If students need immediate assistance with food, housing and/or other basic needs, please visit the following Clark County community resources: 

Clark County Food Bank 

Council for the Homeless 

How to donate to Penguin Pantry 

• Online: Give online with Clark College Foundation’s online giving form and choose ‘Penguin Pantry’ from the drop-down menu.  
• By mail: Mail your check/money order to: Clark College, Attn: Cashier’s Office (PUB 153), 1933 Ft. Vancouver Way. Write the check to “Clark College” and write “Penguin Pantry” in the comments area. 

Learn more at https://www.clark.edu/campus-life/student-support/penguinpantry/index.php 

Since the global pandemic began, Penguin Pantry—the college’s on-campus food bank for students—has doubled the amount of food it distributes monthly. It typically has distributed one box of shelf-stable food and a loaf of bread donated by community partners. Now Clark College is partnering with its own instructional programs to increase the food support it provides to students.

In October, Clark’s Cuisine and Professional Baking programs began donating food made in their lab classes to Penguin Pantry. This new partnership is a win-win for everyone. Students and their families are receiving nutritious, from-scratch meals. Culinary students are getting hands-on experience at a time when the pandemic has closed the campus restaurant, food service, and bakery.

“We’re giving it away, since we still need the practice and our restaurant is still closed,” said Daryl Oest, Culinary support technician.

In the inaugural partnership event on October 27, Penguin Pantry distributed 108 food boxes to Clark students and their families during a seamless curbside pickup system in the Red Lot 3 roundabout. Each box contained a breakfast, lunch, and lasagna dinner.

Cuisine faculty member Robert Earl Frederick and his first-year students baked pans and pans of lasagna to provide 120 meals. Professional Baking department head Alison Dolder and baking students baked full-size pies. Additionally, students received a large box of nonperishable food and a loaf of bread.

Michael Scheidt, 20, a first-year cuisine student, maneuvered a wheeled cart laden with brown paper grocery bags containing a breakfast, lunch and dinner toward the curb outside Penguin Union Building.

“It feels really good to give back to the community,” he said. “We’ve all had hard times.”

During remote operations, Penguin Pantry has set aside one day a month to distribute food boxes. Students sign up in advance to secure a time slot to pick up the food in the parking lot. Those with dietary restrictions can request vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, or pescatarian items.

A student who drove up to the curb was assisted by Sharon Toliver, Security & Safety Services; Samantha Lelo, Student Life Program Support Supervisor; and Lauren Boys, ASCC Civics and Sustainability Director. They checked the student’s name against a list and loaded food into the trunk. Sarah Gruhler, Director of Student Life, supervised the distribution and ensured all ran smoothly.

Afterward Gruhler said, “The distribution went very smoothly. The students were so excited about the additional food. We’ve already had 22 returning students sign up for November’s distribution.”

Frederick added, “We are all looking forward to continuing this partnership in the long run.”

And in fact, while October’s distribution event was impressive, it was just a dress rehearsal for the big event: Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving dinner

November’s Penguin Pantry curbside distribution during Thanksgiving week will be a full, cooked Thanksgiving dinner with all the trimmings.

“We have plans for Thanksgiving to make sure our students are well taken care of during this tough time,” said Oest.

Frederick anticipates roasting 20 turkeys to prepare 150 Thanksgiving meals for students and their families. Dolder says baking students will contribute pies—not only tradition pumpkin, but also apple, marionberry, cherry, and pecan—as well as dinner rolls and a morning treat.

Dolder estimates it will take her baking students two weeks of class hours to make individual pies to feed 150 people. The job will be broken down into smaller tasks: making and freezing the dough, making the pie filling, rolling out pie crusts, and shaping them into disposable pie tins. Eventually, the pies will be assembled, baked, and then frozen again. When students pick up their Thanksgiving food boxes, their pies—and the entire cooked Thanksgiving dinner—will be frozen.

“It’s easier for us to serve frozen pies,” Dolder says. “And we have a ton of freezer space.”

Frederick adds, “It’s safer to distribute frozen food.”

With COVID, a greater need

Last spring, COVID prevented the on-campus Penguin Pantry from opening for walk-in visitors. Beginning in May, the Penguin Pantry began a monthly curbside food distribution following COVID safety protocols. In May, the pantry distributed 1,125 pounds of food to 165 people in 40 households.

As the pandemic has continued and many students and their families have lost their jobs in the subsequent recession, the number of students requesting food assistance continues to grow steadily. In September the pantry distributed 2,500 pounds to 305 students and their families. That’s more than double the amount from May.

Month	People	Households	Pounds of Food
May	165	40	1125
June	177	38	1058
July	207	56	1430
August	263	79	1962
September	305	107	2568

As a partner with Clark County Food Bank, Penguin Pantry must carefully track its numbers and report them to the food bank.

The college has reached out to students to make sure students know about this resource—sharing information about it in online classes, on social media, and through a new text-message service the college has invested in.

“We’ve definitely seen an increase in the number of students requesting food,” says Gruhler. “Since we’ve been able to text students, there’s greater awareness of Penguin Pantry.”

Culinary school during COVID

Cuisine and baking students have continued their studies during the pandemic. They are able to meet in the kitchens for in-person lab classes using face coverings, social distancing, and daily temperature checks–all of which is becoming part of their career preparation. Their industry is changing rapidly because of COVID-19 restrictions.

“The industry will change,” said Oest. “We can’t see the crystal ball yet but whether it’s startups, more corporate food service, smaller restaurants, there will be food services moving forward. There will still be the need. These students have learned best safe practices for the post-COVID workplace.”

Clark College’s Penguin Pantry will celebrate is first year of serving students with an open house on Thursday, October 25, 2:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.

The Open House will be a ‘reverse reception’ — an opportunity for students, staff, faculty, and community partners to drop by, visit the space, and bring donations of unexpired, unopened food items; gift cards; and toiletries.

The Penguin Pantry supports a healthy college community by reducing hunger on campus and connecting students to essential resources. It provides students with a safe, comfortable place to get something to eat, pick up a necessity, and connect with additional resources and services as needed. These include counseling, public benefits, and more connection to local food banks and other local resources.

According to surveys, 43 percent of Clark College students are low-income, and 23 percent have dependent children. The Penguin Pantry has become an important resource to help students stay on the path to graduation.

The Penguin Pantry offer the following types of food/supply services to currently enrolled students:

• Grab-to-go snacks
• Groceries
• Toiletries and school supplies

The Penguin Pantry is located at Clark College in the Science Building Complex (SCI), Room 101. (Closest street is East Reserve. Park in the Orange 2 Lot.)

For additional information, visit www.clark.edu/cc/penguinpantry or call 360.992.2100.

This article contributed by Estancia Cota.

 

Clark College invites the community to attend the Grand Opening for its new Penguin Pantry on Wednesday, October 25, from 3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. This event is free and open to the public.

Launched this summer, the Pantry provides students with free food and hygiene products, as well as some clothing and school supplies. Almost half of Clark’s student body is classified as lower-income, according to data from the college’s Office of Planning & Effectiveness. As of the first week in October, the Pantry has had 90 visits and provided almost 1,000 items to students.

The event will include remarks by Clark College President Bob Knight and a thank-you to the Pantry’s donors, which include Clark College Foundation, Clark employees, the Associated Students of Clark College, Sysco, and the Community Foundation of Southwest Washington. Staff will be on hand to answer visitors’ questions and guide them through the Pantry’s offerings. Food and personal-item donations will be collected during the event. Visit the Penguin Pantry web page at www.clark.edu/cc/penguinpantry for a list of suggested items or to learn about making a financial contribution.

The Pantry is located in Science Building Complex (SCI) room 101 on Clark College’s main campus, located at 1933 Fort Vancouver Way. The nearest parking lots are Orange 2 and Brown 1, both accessible from E. Reserve Street. Maps and directions are available online.

Individuals who need accommodation due to a disability in order to fully participate in this event should contact Clark College’s Disability Support Services Office at 360-992-2314 or 360-991-0901 (VP), or visit Penguin Union Building room 013 as soon as possible.

Photo: Clark College/Nick Bremer