University of Arkansas IEEE WIE and PELS Sponsor Mini Food Pantry

Engineering student group leaders Jeremiah Wimer, left, and Shirley Vega, right, led a project to establish a mini-pantry in Bell Engineering Center 3008.

When is a peanut butter sandwich more than just a sandwich? When it is the difference between spending all day in class hungry, or having the energy and focus needed to take on longer, more advanced courses and labs.

The hub for electrical engineering students at the University of Arkansas is the student lounge in the Bell Engineering building, and at the beginning of Spring Semester 2022, students were returning to campus after the easing of COVID-19 restrictions. It was there that Jonesboro senior Shirley Vega, current President of the IEEE Women in Engineering Affinity Group at the UofA, noticed not all students had the same resources when it came to food and meals. “The electrical engineering department encouraged people to be in the student lounge to work together and study together,” Vega stated. “But not everyone has the ability to leave and go to lunch when they need to.” Vega realized that food insecurity can be a major stressor for some students, in addition to the stress commonly felt during the semester. “Food insecurity was bigger than I expected. I knew there was a need, but I didn’t see it every day,” said Vega.

Vega reached out to IEEE Power Electronics Society President Jeremiah Wimer to collaborate on a solution. Wimer, a senior from Fayetteville, described the challenges EE students face as they advance through their studies. “When you get to be a Junior or Senior, you find yourself faced by the ‘Big Four’,” Wimer stated. “These are back-to-back classes and labs that can last through the day. You don’t want to be hungry all that time.” With this in mind, Vega conceived the idea of providing students with a source of food and other basic needs and making it accessible to anyone who needs to utilize it.

Vega and Wimer, with assistance from the University’s Jane B Gearhart Full Circle Food Pantry, put their plan into action. A shelving unit was installed in the lounge and stocked with nonperishable food items such as canned pastas and soup, ramen packs, and of course, peanut butter and jelly. Not only food, but personal care products such as feminine hygiene items were made available. It was important to Vega to make access to the items in the pantry easy and discreet. The student lounge was the perfect spot. Vega, Wimer, and others put up posters, posted on social media, and used word of mouth classroom conversations to get the message out about the food pantry. The response was immediate. Most of the food items stocked in the EE pantry come from the University food pantry, and the items are restocked every Friday. There have been donations made directly to the student pantry as well.

Because food insecurity is a sensitive subject, a QR code is available for students to privately and discreetly request specific items from the University food pantry. Those items can be picked up on site or delivered to the pantry in the EE student lounge during scheduled restocks.

While Wimer identifies Vega as the driving force behind this project, Vega is quick to credit both Wimer and the university food pantry for their collaboration. “This was not a 1-person project,” Vega stated. “A lot of people are working to make sure it works like it’s supposed to.”

As a senior quickly closing in on graduation, Vega hopes that future students, and especially whoever succeeds her as WIE president, will follow up with this project and keep the pantry going. As a nontraditional student returning to college after more than a decade, Vega is acutely aware of how stressful college can be, especially if there are challenges away from school that can interfere with studies. “If we can take one worry away, we want to do that,” said Vega. Peanut butter and jelly to the rescue.