SEATTLE — More University of Washington students are in need of food assistance, according to the UW Food Pantry.
Alex Silver, the student director of the UW Food Pantry, said they are serving more visitors than ever since opening five years ago.
“So, like every single week, we see our numbers generally will increase,” said Silver.
The number of students and staff visiting the pantry increased 64% from fall 2021 to fall 2022. In fall 2021, the pantry served 2,325 visitors. In fall 2022 it served 3,642 visitors. But Silver said those numbers are accelerating, with the pantry now seeing between 100-200 visitors each day they are open.
“I can say right now, when compared to like last year at this time, we're seeing about twice as many people,” said Silver.
The pantry has been adapting to keep up.
“There are moments where it can be overwhelming and you kind of have to reframe,” said Silver about the increase in visitors. “It is like, we're helping more people than ever before, but we had to definitely make some changes.”
One of those changes is doing more community outreach to get food donated. Silver said they have several community partners that help stock their shelves.
Two factors that Silver believes have added to the increase in visitors is higher food and housing costs, but he said there are various reasons people use the pantry as a resource.
“It can be from financial limitations, it can be someone between jobs,” said Silver. “Really, there are a lot of different reasons that someone might be experiencing food insecurity.”
With the emergency allotments for SNAP recipients having ended March 1, after two years of people having extra money for food, Alex said they are prepared for possible impacts.
“I can say that even this week and last week, we've seen people come in that say ‘This is my first time here,’ maybe more than we have in past months,” said Silver.
Though they hope to see students be food secure, Silver said with current trends showing an increasing need, they are there to help no Husky go hungry.
“My hope is that we will continue to be flexible and adaptable so that whatever comes our way next, we can address it,” said Silver.