The Academic Senate Committee on Committee on Food Insecurity of the Academic Senate met on Wednesday, September 20, 2023 1 - 2 P.M. Room H-205

Committee Members in Attendance:

Lorraine Cupelli (new Chair), Sara Danzi Engoron (new Secretary), Weier Ye, Phillip Nelan, Howard Sporn (incoming committee member), Emily Tai, Angela Gmuca

SGA Representatives: Davia Willis (President), Ashley Tobar (Secretary)

 

 

 

Liaisons in Attendance:

Ms. Ronni Weprin, Administrative Liaison 

 

Business:

The meeting was called to order at 1:00 PM

 

Business:

The May minutes were approved.

Professor Cupelli welcomed new member Howard Sporn.

Pantry hours were discussed. If there are no classes, the pantry will be closed. Library bags are always available. Ms. Gmuca has a cart available to borrow for transporting bags to the library when needed. Pantry hours are limited to one hour for each volunteer each week.

New Library liaisons are Professor Mi-Seon (Christine) Kim, with Quintas Pinder, Natasha Thomas and Professor Neera Mohess.

Funds available for pantry: Petri Foundation provides $20,000 per year. Stop and Shop donated $7500 recently and the Lucille A. Bova endowment of $50,000 provides $1600 per year for personal hygiene products. Grub Hub has said they will continue their support. Ms. Weprin announced that Amazon just donated $25,000 to the pantry for this year. She has also applied to “Swipe Out Hunger” which has an additional $6,000 available. An update on that application should be available October 5^th. There are concerns for sufficient money because the pantry has had more visitors than previously, and the numbers have been increasing each week so far.

There will be a Fall Food Drive soon requesting specific items such as shelf stable milk, personal size toiletries and granola bars.

Students may volunteer to assist with staff during pantry hours.

November 21^st will be the Thanksgiving food distribution event.

There is a list of pantries available for each borough in NYC. It will be made available to students through a QR code with assistance from Marketing. It was noted that the CUNY Graduate Center recently opened at food pantry as well.

It was noted that over the summer, the Advocacy Resource Center provided fresh vegetables and eggs to students on a first come, first served basis once a week. Professor Danzi will reach out to the ARC to request whether this can be continued during the fall semester.

The meeting was adjourned at 2:05 PM.

Respectfully submitted,

Sara Danzi Engoron
Committee on Committee on Food Insecurity of the Academic Senate, Secretary