Student Services recently installed new locations for CMU’s on-campus food bank, The Pantry. Now, the Hamilton Recreation Center, CMU Tech and the Montrose campus have access. Student Services also discontinued the MAVcard swiping policy at the location in Lowell Heiny Hall.
“We don’t do [MAVcard swiping] anymore, and the door is always open,” junior business accounting major and employee at Student Services Isenia Fregoso said. “The only time it can’t be accessed is when the building is closed.”
Newly hired executive assistant to the vice president for Student Services Isabel Manzanares reportedly spearheaded The Pantry’s return to anonymity.
“I’ve talked to Isabel briefly about it and she just wants people to be comfortable about going in there, and having the door closed is another barrier,” Fregoso said. She started at Student Services at the same time as Manzanares.
Manzanares initiated a partnership with CMU Tech’s Culinary Arts program through CUAR 115, or Introduction to Sustainable Cuisine. She worked with associate technical professor of culinary arts Wayne Smith on this new project.
“Last spring, a group of students were inspired to start a chapter of [the] Food Recovery Network on our campus to reduce food waste. Students from that group are now collecting food that is left from culinary classes and packaging it as ‘heat and eat’ meals,” Smith said.
Students in this class sometimes produce a surplus of food. CMU Tech and Student Services’ new partnership utilizes the excess food to stock multiple Pantry locations.
“Since the culinary arts program makes a considerable amount of food, the students cannot always take everything home, and their food goes to waste. With these new updates—headed by the Food Recovery Network chapter of CMU Tech—we can now decrease our total food waste considerably and feed more students at the same time,” sophomore culinary arts and hospitality management major Phoenix Hawley said.
Students in the class shared benefits they believe the program has on their sustainable education.
“In my opinion, [The] Pantry is a natural extension of the culinary arts program. The Pantry allows us to take any excess food produced during our lessons and share these meals with other students. A second benefit of [The] Pantry is it allows us to create additional dishes from any excess purchased products, thus reducing our environmental impact,” freshman culinary arts major Pam Noonan said.
CMU Tech has packaged various food items since the partnership began at the beginning of the semester.
“So far, we’ve gotten cinnamon rolls, salad, and that’s just so far,” Manzanares said. “That was our first try and we’ve tried it once, and now we’re going to continue to do so.”
The Pantry continues to receive donations from local food bank, Kids Aid. They bring supplies every Thursday. Student Services employees use an annual budget to provide students with various food options in Lowell Heiny Hall and the new location in the Hamilton Recreation Center.
“Every Thursday, I pick up food donations and bring them to The Pantry storage,” sophomore business major and student employee for Student Services Isaac Ruiz said. “I will pick those up and, usually, we go on Tuesdays, we go to Sam’s Club and we’ll order for The Pantry. We’ll make sure it’s stocked up with $500 roughly each week at Sam’s Club.”
The Pantry’s budget goes through the Associated Student Government’s (ASG) biennial budget process. This year, ASG allocated $18,000 to The Pantry.
Third-party food contractor and manager of food in the University Center, Sodexo, also partnered with Student Services to combat food scarcity as a part of its Swipe-Out Hunger campaign.
“Any student who comes to me saying that they need assistance with food, I can offer them Swipe Out Hunger,” Manzanares said. “We help any students who come and advocate for themselves and I’ll help them with ten meal swipes.
According to Manzanares, Sodexo donated 200 meal swipes to Student Services this year. Students can utilize the meal swipes at on-campus dining locations The Caf, What The Mav and Flat Top Grill. Multiple students have taken advantage of this resource this semester.
“Since the beginning of the year, I want to say, at least one student a week, give or take a couple of weeks, has come in and asked about their meal swipes,” Fregoso said.
All these updates to The Pantry saw an increase in student usage during Nov. 2025. Each of them also coincided with the recent government shutdown, which impacted Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits in Colorado.
“After Dr. Montoya sent an email to the students, there was a significant increase in students at The Pantry. Students have come in and mentioned their SNAP benefits too,” Fregoso said.
