It’s been months since Phi Theta Kappa (PTK) discovered widespread hunger at College of DuPage through surveys.

Earlier this year the Courier reported on surveys administered and created by Phi Theta Kappa sent out to 750 community members.

Forty-seven percent of athletes surveyed admitted to having access to only one meal or less a day, and 57 percent of athletes knew somebody who was in need of help for accessing food.

The surveys were PTK’s college-wide coordinator, Hope Drager’s first step towards her goal of creating a food pantry on campus. PTK named the pantry, FUEL Pantry. The results were shared in multiple presentations, and the need for easy access towards food, clothing, utilities and school supplies was discovered by community members.

Since then, nothing about the pantry moved forward.  Events to support the pantry, such as COD’s Day of Action, were suddenly canceled. Despite seeming hushed about the process and hurdles appearing to backtrack the pantry, strong progression was being made behind the scenes.

While the months have passed, the FUEL Pantry team has worked endlessly making strides in improvement and advancements. Since last reported, FUEL has teamed up with two service learning classes administered by Lauren Morgan, created multiple presentations which have proved to be impressive, found partners, found possible locations and has created strong plans for sponsorship.

“We did research on all the questions the cabinet had and all the questions we had received multiple times and developed specific plans for the pantry to work,” said Drager. “We sent our proposal to the cabinet and heard good things from many people within the cabinet. Student life has committed to providing us a space for [fall] semester. We have now accepted two new PTK officers to run the pantry next year.”

PTK, as well as the classes working on the project, have proven to be extremely instrumental in moving the process quickly and thoroughly. The classes work on logistics and operations, marketing, events and partnerships for the pantry. In total, roughly 50 students are working on making the pantry come to life.

“So much has been done in such a quick amount of time,” said Chuck Steele, student life coordinator.  “I’m excited about it, and I’m mostly excited about it because it’s so student-driven. Every bit of work has come from the students. All we’ve done is connected it to the college process. Fifty students putting in a lot of man hours to get this done in a very thorough and detailed manner.”

The pantry has become more than just a place to help those hungry and in need of assistance. It’s become a truly hands on learning experience for Drager, the classes and even faculty involved. The students have found that, even in the process of creating this pantry, they’re making an impact..

“I think that it’ll raise and improve the student experience in terms of service learning and volunteering,” said Drager. “A lot of the students have stopped and told me on various occasions, ‘wow, I’m actually making a difference with what I’m doing.’ It’s amazing to see them when it clicks in their head, and they realize, ‘I’m not just volunteering at some pantry where I’m going to pack a box. I’m actually making a difference here on my campus, which I can see the difference.’ It’ll really get students and faculty excited about helping.”

With the path cleared for the pantry, smaller details still need to be figured out. Steele and Drager both expressed how the summer will be the perfect time to hammer every detail out.

For the initial opening of the pantry, partnerships are being created to form a strong foundation. Agreements with the Glen Ellyn food pantry have resulted in promises to assist FUEL whenever they are running low on donations. A partnership with the Northern Illinois Food Bank is in the works as well, and sponsor events are on their way, such as COD’s Sunset 5K.

“Having the 5K be a sponsor of the food pantry is huge, and it’s going to give the pantry a huge jump start right at the beginning of its existence,” said Steele. “The funds raised from the 5K will be given to the food pantry, and right now the estimate as of yesterday is $4,000. A lot of the money will take pressure off the food pantry once it’s starting up.”

Looking in the past, different questionable setbacks were simply issues of details and progress of the pantry not lining up until now.

“The [COD Cares] Day of Action and the food pantry were two separate things and trying to be in support of that, but just the timing didn’t line up for it,” explained Steele. “The timing didn’t connect. [We] needed cabinet commitment before moving forward with taking collections and donations, and the cabinet wasn’t able to provide that. Everything else has been moving well. Just that one piece did not fit in.”

The pantry’s goal is to open in Fall 2016 in a yet to be announced location provided by student life. Drager will be transferring to DePaul but will continue to work on the pantry through an internship. Students Lizet Alvarado and Stephanie Owens will be the PTK food pantry officers for the 2016-2017 school year. Drager would like to give special thanks to Nali Asomwah and Carla Chavez, both PTK officers which had huge impacts on the success of FUEL.

“We talk about how we are a community college and how both parts of that are very important to us,” said Steele. “A community piece is huge, and being able to provide this type of service to our community says a lot about the type of community we are. Everybody needs help in some way.”