Upcoming Closures!
The Newton Food Pantry will be closed on Wednesday, April 29 and Thursday, April 30.
“It was a weird transition going from working back to being a full-time student,” says Emily. “But I knew that resources like the Newton Food Pantry exist in order to help people through temporarily challenging times, so I decided to embrace the opportunity to get help.”
Now in her second year at Boston College Law School, Emily is among a number of students who attend college in Newton and utilize the Newton Food Pantry for supplemental food assistance. Recent research has shown that more than 20% of graduate students in the United States experience food security, while a whopping 33% of undergraduates do. (In addition to opening its pantry in the basement of City Hall to currently enrolled students who attend a college or university in Newton, the Newton Food Pantry supports dry pantries on the campuses of Lasell University and William James College.)
Emily says a couple of things have pleasantly surprised her about the Newton Food Pantry. “The availability of fresh produce was shocking,” she says. “I fully expected to be able to pick up shelf-stable items such as boxed, canned and jarred foods. I definitely did not expect the abundance of fresh, healthy produce and culturally-relevant foods!”
She says she was delighted to spot a jar of Chinese Lao Gan Ma (a spicy chili sauce) in the pantry’s culturally relevant section, as it reminded her of cooking at home with her family. And Emily is equally delighted to try cooking items she has never eaten before, such as chard. “Sometimes when I shop at the Newton Food Pantry I feel like I’m on an episode of ‘Chopped’ — it is really fun to pull off new twists on meals using all of the items I bring home.”
Another thing that has pleasantly surprised her is the sense of community and connectivity she gets from coming to the Newton Food Pantry. Emily described a day when she visited the pantry wearing Adidas sneakers, a Noah Kahan T-shirt and a Boston College law hat. “Each of those items prompted conversations with various strangers — clients, volunteers and staff. I love feeling integrated into the broader community when I’m at the Newton Food Pantry.”
Emily says she looks forward to giving back once she is finished with law school and is again employed. But for now, while she is a full-time graduate student, she is appreciative that the Newton Food Pantry can alleviate some of her financial struggles and that she doesn’t need to take out extra loans to make ends meet.