UW

May 26, 2023

Higher education reporter

Higher education reporter

New outdoor lockers, which contain shelf-stable food, are now available to those who need them at the River Food Pantry in Madison.

Through a new food locker program, community members can now access free food from the River Food Pantry outside of its distribution hours.

Launched earlier this month, Food NOW — which stands for “nights or weekends” — includes 10 food lockers located outside of the River’s building on the north side. After scanning a QR code, users receive a unique combination to open one of the lockers, which staff members keep stocked with a short supply of shelf-stable items.

The program comes as the River and other food pantries across the nation have experienced increased demand, and as Dane County has invested $1.5 million to help fund the River's $7.9 million expansion project for a new building.

New outdoor lockers of shelf-stable food are now available to those who need them outside of the main hours at the River Food Pantry.

“On the weekends, and when nobody’s here, there’s been no way for us to serve food,” said Helen Osborn-Senatus, director of operations at the River. “The idea was for people to at least have food for the night to be that bridge keeping them from being hungry in the moment until they can get a full supply of groceries when we’re next open.”

Two recent University of Wisconsin-Madison graduates, Akshay Kalra and Samantha Angelina, helped lead the project through a grant from the Morgridge Center for Public Service’s Wisconsin Idea Fellowship program.

Kalra and Angelina, both of whom received degrees in community and nonprofit leadership, said they chose to take on the project because they are passionate about food justice.

“When students go out and engage with the community, there's this tendency to sort of overtake and push around the voices of the community,” Kalra said. “We wanted to make sure we centered the needs and the priorities of the community first.”

The students reached out to staff members at the River, who told them their struggles in providing food to those who seek out the pantry after it closes for the day or on the weekends. Kalra and Angelina then spent a year-and-a-half bringing to life the River’s idea for food lockers.

“Now that our work is completed, we can finally look at the bigger picture,” Angelina said, adding that she and Kalra are now working on a guide to help other food pantries and community centers install their own food lockers. “It’s been really great to hear the support for this and how much it’s going to help people who need this type of resource.”

The lockers are available outside of River’s curbside distribution hours, which run from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays, noon to 6 p.m. on Wednesdays and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Fridays. Through the curbside program, each household receives an average of 100 pounds of groceries per visit, including perishable and nonperishable food items as well as cleaning supplies and personal hygiene products.

With food insecurity on the rise in Madison, Osborn-Senatus said it was important for the River to expand its accessibility. She said factors like inflation and the recent end to pandemic-related benefits from the federal government — including the FoodShare assistance program, which provided low-income residents with at least an extra $95 a month — have led to increased demand at food pantries.

The River served 28% more people this April compared to the same time last year, according to Osborn-Senatus. And its prepared meal program, which offers clients at-home meals, has seen a 46% increase in participation this April compared to last April.

Almost every program that the River provides food through has increased, Osborn-Senatus added, which she said sparked an even more urgent need for the pantry to broaden its availability after-hours.

“A few of us on staff might get phone calls or voicemails late at night, on holidays or days that we’re closed, saying, ‘I'm here. I need food,’” she said. “We never want somebody to be in a position where they need something as critical as food. And here we are — a food pantry — and we're not able to provide it.

“While we can't have a full supply of groceries available 24 hours a day, we at least want to have something available to help people meet their immediate needs.”

Kayla Huynh joined the Cap Times in 2021 and covers higher education. She graduated from Northwestern University with a master's degree in journalism after attending UW-Madison.

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