Point Park University is leveraging state support to give its students free, healthier meal options.
The university has received nearly $70,000 since 2023 through the commonwealth’s Hunger-Free Campus grant program to expand its food pantry for students and staff, host monthly produce pop-up markets and launch a campus garden.
Point Park sophomore Natalie Quinn said that while finding fresh food on a budget can be challenging for a student, the college’s food pantry helps fill in the gaps.
“The Pioneer Pantry has really helped me for that last, right-before-the-paycheck stretch where you’re running a little low on groceries and all you have in the house is pasta,” Quinn said.
Pennsylvania has awarded $3 million in Hunger-Free Campus grants during the past three years. At Point Park, located in Downtown Pittsburgh, officials used some of their share to purchase an industrial refrigerator and freezer for the campus food pantry.
Quinn said that’s especially helpful because meat and other protein-packed options are among the hardest to come by. While students can stock up on staples at the Target store Downtown, the neighborhood lacks a full-service grocery store.
On a visit Thursday to Point Park, Lt. Gov. Austin Davis said no student should have to defer their dreams of higher education because they cannot afford food.
“That’s a basic right and a basic necessity,” he said. “And I think in the most powerful and wealthiest country on earth, we should not be allowing folks to go hungry.”
According to a 2023 campus survey, nearly 1 in 3 Point Park students has experienced food insecurity. Nationwide, 2 in 5 college students face the same struggles, the nonprofit organization Swipe Out Hunger reports.