Colonel’s Cupboard, located in the
Center for Career Development and
Internships building, offers grocery and
household items to students, staff and
faculty members for free. There are new
hours for people to visit the Colonel’s
Cupboard for the spring semester.
The hours are as follows: Monday,
Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from 9 a.m.
to 5 p.m., Wednesday from 9 a.m. to 7
p.m., Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m.
to 2 p.m. The Colonel’s Cupboard will
also follow all scheduled holiday breaks,
closures and delays.
“Food insecurity on college campuses
often goes unnoticed,” said Catie Becker,

Bonner leader coordinator.
One of the main reasons student
development runs Colonel’s Cupboard is
because some people cannot afford having
a full meal plan or buying food off campus.
Trying to figure out how a student is going
to buy food or when they can eat next while
balancing a full-course load of schoolwork
impedes on their success in school.
“Students have enough going on in
their worlds; offering the Cupboard as a

resource hopefully eliminates some of that
stress,” said Becker.
The Colonel’s Cupboard is also a good
resource for students who do not go home
over breaks, especially the international
students. These students do not go back
home for long periods of time and may
not have the necessary funds to feed
themselves.
“Quite a few of our students have to
work during school, not only to pay
their way through school but also pay for
those essential needs,” said Megan Boone
Valkenburg, civic engagement coordinator.
“If we are able to take some of that burden
off of them they can focus more on their
schoolwork and on their tuition dollars,
rather than on their food security.”
The Colonel’s Cupboard is funded entirely
through donations from businesses,
alumni and community members; tuition
dollars are not used to purchase items.
Plus, student development partners with
CEO Foodbank to receive many of their
items free of charge.
Not only are people welcome to come
any time to the Colonel’s Cupboard but
they are encouraged to help out too. The
school has a federal work study position
where students can help keep the Colonel’s
Cupboard open during nontraditional
hours.
“I think it’s important to have such a
resource like the cupboard because it takes
the worry away of some students who
cannot afford food or any personal items,”
said Brenda Arias, first-year hospitality
leadership major. “The cupboard makes it
easier and attainable for them and I think
that’s very valuable. My favorite thing
about working in the Colonel’s Cupboard

is knowing that I’m a resource of help for
people.”
Student development also enjoys
working with any club or sports teams that
would like to host a drive to help stock the
Colonel’s Cupboard. People can also help
out by simply stopping by to retrieve items
because it reduces the amount of waste of
expired foods.
“Last year before the semester ended
athletics gave us a humongous donation,”
said Boone Valkenburg. “I think it was
either 3,000 or 5,000 cans and that carried
us through the first semester so it’s been
really wonderful to see how supportive the
whole campus is.”
If students are not comfortable with
physically going inside the Colonel’s
Cupboard they can always order online
and their items will come in a discrete
brown box. To order online, scan the QR
code.
Orders will be available 48 hours after
being placed and orders placed Friday
to Sunday will be ready for pick up on
Monday. All orders can be picked up in the
mail room.