CHAMPAIGN, III (WAND) - According to a University of Illinois study, approximately 1 in 5 students are food insecure. This means 1 in 5 students do not know where their next meal will come from. 

Holly Stallard and Jade Hamann are two graduate students working to make sure food insecurity is a thing of the past by running an bi-weekly campus food pantry. The goal, to not allow students to go hungry. 

Stallard says anyone can pop into the pantry, no questions asked. "Students can come in, it's anonymous, you don't have to input any information, you just get food to supplement your needs." 

The Food Assistance and Well-Being Program is open two days a week, on Tuesdays and Fridays at the Campus Recreation Center. On Tuesdays, it is open 1 PM to 4 PM and on Saturdays, it is open from 2 PM to 5 PM. The pantry is run entirely by students.

"The food assistant program is run for students by students. It lets students come and grab as much food as they want without stigma and have access to free and healthy food." Hamann tells WAND News. 

The program idea started in the Fall of 2019, but the pantry opened last year, right when the COVID-19 pandemic was at its peak. Hamann says the timing was perfect. "It was even more pressing because students started losing income sources through jobs or funding. So, once people started to know that we were here, the demand just exponentially grew and continues to rise."

About 50 students visit the pantry weekly and that number is increasing every week. The pantry has a no questions asked policy, any student is welcome to stop in and get what they need. 

Stallard says there is a wide variety of students who visit the pantry. "We do have students who come repeatedly week after week and we also have students who are here less frequently." Stallard says. The pantry caters to different lifestyles, such as Vegan diets or those who are lactose intolerant. 

Hamann and Stallard say this is only the beginning for the pantry, hoping they grow to open more days a week and for longer periods of time.

For more information or to get involved with the program, click here.