PULLMAN, Wash. — A doctoral candidate at Washington State University has created a food bank for students outside of her office.
Amy Nusbaum learned from a recent study that a significant amount of college students don’t get enough to eat, so she decided to set up the mini food bank.
"This is a thing I can do right now that'll help the students right now. And it doesn't need to be like a huge thing, it’s a mailbox outside of my office, that for most of the last few months I've just been buying stuff as it runs out," Nusbaum said.
She started to run out of food, but before she made another order to Amazon, she wanted to give others an opportunity to contribute as well.
"You know, I interact with a lot of people on social media who are interested in these things and maybe don't know how to help -- and the cougar community is so incredible," she said.
She posted on social media with a link to her Amazon wish list, asking people to donate to the food bank. She was overwhelmed by the response.
Just a few days later, Nusbaum came home to about 20 Amazon boxes on her doorstep.
"I was just flabbergasted. I pulled up and just sat in my car for like three minutes just starting at it. I felt like I need give my delivery person a thank you card, because, wow," she said.
WSU does have multiple student food banks on campus. Nusbaum said those are valuable resources and doesn't want to take away from them. She figures her food bank can be a convenient spot for students to swing by between classes.
"We don't want our students taking exams hungry, right? We want to know what they know in ideal circumstances. If I can get students who are going about their day to day life, realize they can't buy lunch or forgot to pack a lunch, just really increasing the opportunities that students have to take advantage of resources," she said.
There are still more boxes being delivered, and Nusbaum hopes any student, even grad students, will take advantage of her mini food bank or other food banks on campus.
