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Ana Longoria: This is 89.1 WEMU News. I’m Ana Longoria. Food pantries across Washtenaw County are seeing more people who need their services. Swoop’s Pantry at EMU has also had to address this issue. It has seen more activity as more students have felt the impact of ongoing budget cuts and economic inflation. Joining me today are Director Ben Roberts-Widdison, who just started this fall semester, and Graduate Assistant Emily Bryson. We’re discussing how Swoop’s has been responding to challenges created by increasing needs.
I know that last school year there were a lot of issues caused by SNAP benefits freezing and other funding cuts that put a lot of pressure on students in need here on campus. Swoop's experienced the highest daily volume of students on record last year. I wanted to get a perspective on what the 2026-2027 school year looks like in terms of how many students are registered and what sort of position the pantry is in at the moment?
Ben Roberts-Widdison: Well, you know, for myself coming onto campus, one of the first things I learned from the staff here at Swoop's was, you know, campus, about 46% of students here on campus identify as food insecure. And yet, we only at this time serve about 12 to 13% of the student body.
Ana Longoria: Indeed. I'm familiar with that statistic where it's like nearly half are in need, but only a sliver of those students actually pursue services like this.
Ben Roberts-Widdison: Yeah. So, while we're, you know, coming in to campus here, what I'm finding is not only is there a need for communication and broader partnership with academic units on campus that they can get information to their students about Swoop's, but we're looking for bigger opportunities to provide other opportunities for access to food beyond just shopping, because we have heard from students that, you know, they aren't always able to come in, spend the time to shop, carry their bags of groceries around, and we're looking for opportunities to provide them with warm, nutritious food beyond just that.
Ana Longoria: Have you guys thought about initiatives for this fall semester about what to do with Swoop's, about how to promote Swoop's, as well as maybe secure more funding for the pantry and other things like that?
Emily Bryson: However, we do have a few programs that we are starting this year that are really exciting. For example, in the student lounge that we're in right now, we received a United Way community grant that is going to help us to provide free meals for students to warm up. We're going to have a freezer and in that freezer, there'll be meals that students can go ahead and grab, warm it up in between classes, or maybe they might want to come to the student lounge to grab a meal. And then there's also snacks over there and a microwave to warm them up. And we also are providing more access to the giving garden, which is located behind Westview. That's actually, we got a grant from KFC to help remodel that, and it's going to provide a lot of fresh produce and opportunities for students to learn about growing food. And we're really excited about those things. And we're also excited about developing our Super Swoopers initiative.
Ben Roberts-Widdison: One of those ways we're trying to build broader partnerships on campus is to get more large groups volunteering with the pantry. We do have a good number of individual students who choose to volunteer for the pantry. We still want to make sure that those students have the opportunity to do that.
But as we're continuing to expand, we want to provide student organizations, departments on campus, local businesses in the community, an opportunity to come in and help us here. So, the Super Swoopers program will be for groups of two to five to come in. They choose a time to volunteer. They can help us unload the truck, help volunteer out in the garden, or help us with our thrift store here at Swoops as well. And they'll earn rewards based on the number of hours that they volunteer with us.
Ana Longoria: Now, is that a new thing for volunteerism here at the pantry? Because if I recall, in previous years, this was mostly run by student-employees rather than volunteer-run.
Emily Bryson: Yes, this is a relatively new thing that we just started. And I think it's going to be a really rewarding opportunity for either students or staff to join in and help out at the pantry. The need for this type of program is very real. And Swoop’s helps a lot of students. So, we want to make sure that we can help even more.
Ben Roberts-Widdison: And we still have the same number of student employees here at Swoops. It's just working within their student schedules. There are times when many students can't come in. We want to make sure that their shifts are around their school schedules because their schooling comes first. And so, this volunteer opportunity provides a chance to work outside of those hours where we hear a lot of our student staff can't come in and work.
Ana Longoria: If you’re just joining us, I’m Ana Longoria, and I’m with Ben Roberts-Widdison and Emily Bryson from Eastern Michigan University’s Swoop’s Pantry. As ongoing economic issues affect more and more people, food pantries like the one at EMU are seeing increasing demand. So, what's down the pike this semester for Swoop’s? Last year there was a Thanksgiving event where students could gather Thanksgiving fixings that I think amounted to, I want to say, $100 per student that they could use to make dinner for their families, friends, or themselves. Is that still going to be a thing?
Emily Bryson: Swoop’s does have a holiday harvest and that is open to the shoppers of the pantry at Thanksgiving. And we do provide all the things that you would need to make a holiday meal. And then we're also have a program where we're collaborating with Chartwells to provide students hot meals on campus and to ensure that their needs are met.
Ben Roberts-Widdison: Yeah, and I'll just expand a little bit on that Chartwells partnership. In the past, you may know this, but students can donate their unused flex dollars to other students in need here. And then we help get those out to those students.
And we are partnering with Chartwells to not only allow for flex dollars to be used, but to actually charge those as a meal plan so that students can go get a hot ready meal.
Ana Longoria: How do you guys feel about promoting to students that they can donate unused flex meals to the pantry here? How's that campaign been going to encourage students to, if they decide, you know what, I'm not going to eat a meal at the Eatery today. I'm just going to hold off on that.
Emily Bryson: This is a relatively new program. So, we don't have a lot of data from former or in the past. But in terms of like last year, it was very helpful. And we're really thankful to Chartwells and eDining for providing that opportunity for Swoops and their shoppers.
Ana Longoria:How is Swoop’s doing this semester in other ways? I know the community is still feeling some reverberations from the SNAP benefits freeze.
Emily Bryson: We're just trying to make sure that, you know, we strengthen our program. And like I said earlier, the need is, is great. You know, everybody's going to, you know, need help at some point in their life or, you know, during their educational career.
But we want to make sure that everyone knows and especially students that EMU and Swoop’s is here for you. And that we will have your back. And so during that SNAP scare, it definitely strengthened our resolve to make sure that we are going to be able to help these students and our shoppers.
Ben Roberts-Widdison: Yeah. And just to expand on that further, Swoops is here for every student. You never know when you may, everybody is only one or two missed paychecks away from, from being what we would call food insecure. But we just want to make sure that students on campus know that this is a resource that is for everybody. And we would love to have you down here.
Ana Longoria: Is there anything else that you think I missed, or you think would be good to know?
Emily Bryson: I think we've pretty much covered it.
Ben Roberts-Widdison: No, I think that's it for me.
Ana Longoria: That is Ben Roberts-Widdison and Emily Bryson, who both work at Swoop’s Pantry on Eastern Michigan University’s campus. We discussed how the food pantry plans to navigate challenges caused by cuts to benefits like SNAP and economic inflation.
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