On April 10, the Cougar Food Pantry held a ceremony celebrating an upgrade following donations from its partnership with Safeway. WSU and Safeway officials made an appearance alongside representatives of the Seattle Seahawks.
After reaching out to Safeway, one of its biggest collaborators, CFP received not only food and cash donations amounting to about $20,000, but also renovations in the form of new shelves, refrigerators, and freezers, said Cougar Food Pantry Assistant and Pantry Advisory Board member Androu Luzader.
Seahawk representatives were in attendance as part of their 50-year commitment to help give back to 50 communities in the state and region as they launch their 50th season, he said.
Luzader said the CFP continued its fundraising efforts with the “Chancellor’s Challenge to Feed Cougs Well”, a collaboration with the WSU Pullman Chancellor’s office that ran from April 3–16.
“Working with the chancellor’s office, we wanted to create a competitive fundraiser among student organizations to not just raise funds but also encourage conversations about this issue and get staff, faculty and others engaged in it,” he said.
All of this is part of CFP’s core mission of supporting students, especially those who need the pantry’s resources the most, Luzader said.
“The students who are using our resources tend to come from marginalized and minority backgrounds,” he said. “Through supporting these students, we’re not just supporting these groups of individuals, but we’re supporting diversity at WSU in a time where diversity may be a hot topic priority. One of the things that is really important when it comes to the WSU community is that we are helping support the most vulnerable populations within the student body.”
With this and its numerous partnerships with various WSU organizations like academic, multicultural and Greek life groups, CFP maintains student involvement as the “driving force” of its organization, Luzader said.
“We always want to make sure that this project is student-led and that it is based on student needs,” he said.
The CFP has grown since its establishment in the fall of 2021 through a grassroots student movement. Not only has its reach widened and its facilities boosted, but its goals have expanded as well, as it aims for “holistic prevention,” Luzader said.
“We’re working to host workshops to teach students critical life skills for economic resilience, which improves food security,” he said. We’ve also looked to create community-building events [like our] Thanksgiving meal with the Academic Engagement Office. Our mission is evolving to be holistic and not just treatment-based.”
While the Chancellor’s Challenge has concluded, members of the community can still support CFP through donations or volunteer work. Resources and information can always be found on their Instagram, WSU’s GivePulse site, and the CFP website.
