PRIZE PATROL

Purple Pantry earns top honors for ECU

East Carolina University has taken first place and a $10,000 prize in the third annual Collegiate Hunger Challenge, a competition among North Carolina colleges and universities to raise awareness about hunger and food insecurity in the state.

“I’m always very open about my experience,” she said. “My mom and me, we used food pantries growing up.”

Now that she’s in a position to help, she said, she wants to make sure others know that help is available because a lot of students and others in need may be hesitant to speak up about it.

“You can’t do well in class if you’re hungry,” Williams said. “We’re fortunate enough to be on a campus that already had a Purple Pantry. … So we just want to promote those (food pantries) to students to make sure they understand the purpose, how they can use it, and that it’s free.”

Outreach efforts during the Collegiate Hunger Challenge included social media campaigns, a cooking demonstration, a stress relief day in collaboration with the Dr. Jesse R. Peel LGBTQ Center, and participation in the homecoming food drive benefiting the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina.

Currently there are Purple Pantry locations in the main campus and health sciences campus student centers, as well as a Purple Pantry Express in the Center for Leadership & Civic Engagement (CLCE) office and a Mini Pantry outside the Old Cafeteria Complex. The Purple Pantry offers more than just food, including laundry detergent, dish soap, toothbrushes and feminine products.

Pirate Packs, a prepackaged option developed by necessity during the COVID-19 pandemic, are still available each week at the Purple Pantry Express.

Lauren Howard, director of the CLCE, said awareness of the pantry’s services is on the rise.

“Last semester was a historical semester in Purple Pantry world; we had over 400 visits,” she said. When it first opened in 2018, referrals came primarily from the Dean of Students Office and the Center for Counseling and Student Development. “But now I think 70-80% of students hear about Purple Pantry from other students. … That’s encouraging to see, and it warms my heart to see how ECU students are looking out for other ECU students.”

For students like Williams, Howard said operating and promoting the Purple Pantry and other CLCE programs provides valuable experience. “It gives them leadership experience and firsthand knowledge of running a nonprofit,” she said.

As for the prize money, future goals include expanding access by adding more locations, raising awareness, and creating a meal plan scholarship to support individual students. Williams said having multiple locations helps to balance visibility with privacy, so that students know the services are available but also feel that they can use the pantry covertly.

For more information or to support the Purple Pantry, visit the Purple Pantry website, email purplepantry@ecu.edu, or order from the pantry’s Amazon wishlist. Purchases are delivered directly to the Purple Pantry. There is also a Hunger Initiatives Support Fund through ECU Advancement.

ECU is in the public phase of the Pursue Gold campaign to raise half a billion dollars. This ambitious effort will create new paths to success for Pirates on campus, across the country and around the world. Donor gifts during the campaign will keep us constantly leading and ready to advance what’s possible. Learn more at pursuegold.ecu.edu.

Related
Foods and Funds
Purple Pantry Opens on ECU Health Sciences Campus
Purple Pantry

MORE STORIES