Shelves lined with soup cans, pasta boxes, granola bars and many other things fill the Blue Jay Pantry, a space meant to provide comfort and relief to students who may be experiencing food insecurity. But as the semester winds down, SNAP and WIC benefits may increase the use of food pantries throughout the United States.
For Javita Thompson, Interim Vice President for Engagement, Mission, and Impact and Director of the Center for Community and Civic Engagement, that’s a sign it is time to implement some changes in the Blue Jay Pantry. In the coming weeks we will limit the number of items you can take per individual. For example, two cans of corn per person so that more people are able to benefit from the pantry.
“The pantry exists so that every student who needs help can find it,” Thompson said. “We just want students to be mindful and take what they truly need, so everyone can have access.”
Thompson, who helped enhance the pantry, emphasized that the initiative is built on dignity and trust. “We want students to know that this space exists for them,” she said. The Blue Jay Pantry is part of a growing movement on college campuses nationwide. Over 600 universities now operate on-site food pantries, reflecting a deeper recognition that hunger and higher education too often intersect.
Etown’s pantry also partners with Central PA Food Bank and Swipe Out Hunger, a national nonprofit dedicated to ending student hunger by providing colleges with tools, training, and support to meet students’ nutritional needs. Together, these programs help ensure that no student has to choose between paying for a meal and paying for class materials.
But for Elizabethtown College, the pantry isn’t just a practical solution, it’s an expression of the college’s core values of service and community. “This is about being there for one another,” Thompson said. “Food is one of the most human forms of care.
Etown’s Blue Jay Pantry is part of a larger movement across Pennsylvania to make sure no student goes hungry. Through statewide efforts like the Pennsylvania Hunger-Free Campus Initiative, supported by First Lady Lori Shapiro, colleges are finding new ways to make food accessible for everyone.
Stocked through donations from students, faculty, staff, alumni, parents and local partners, the Blue Jay Pantry offers a range of food items and resources available to all undergraduate graduate and commuter students, ensuring easy access and privacy for those who need it most.
The program’s success depends on donations from supporters and being good stewards of the resources that they receive. Thompson stressed that while generosity from donors has been remarkable, they appreciate additional support from those who can afford to pick up an additional item or two from the grocery store and drop them off at BSC 247.
When the college is closed, students can still reach out directly to Thompson for assistance. “We never want anyone to go hungry because of scheduling,” she said. “If a student needs help, we’ll find a way to make it happen.”
For Thompson and her team, one of the biggest goals is to shift the way students think about asking for help. Food insecurity, she said, often carries unnecessary stigma, something she hopes the pantry helps to erase.
Students have echoed that sentiment, expressing gratitude for a program that treats them with dignity and compassion rather than shame. “I was hesitant at first,” said a junior business major. “But once I saw how welcoming and respectful the process was, I realized this was a resource made for people like me, people just trying to get through college.”
Donations remain the pantry’s lifeblood, and Thompson encourages anyone in the Etown community to contribute. “Elizabethtown has always been about ‘Educate for Service,’” Thompson said. “The pantry is just one more way we live that mission.”
With the Blue Jay Pantry, the college isn’t just stocking shelves, fostering empathy and proving that even the smallest gesture can make a big difference.
