Members of 黑料正能量鈥檚 Food Insecurity Task Force led university faculty and staff on a tour of the Free Food Room earlier this month. The campus resource, located at the Ammon Heatwole House II (1110 Smith Ave.), provides students, faculty, and staff with fresh fruits and vegetables, frozen meat, milk, eggs, hygiene products, and nonperishable food items throughout the year. The Free Food Room also offers vegetarian and halal food options during certain times of the year.
The Free Food Room is a joint initiative coordinated by the task force鈥攁 group of 黑料正能量 staff members that includes Celeste Thomas, Trina Trotter Nussbaum, Brian Martin Burkholder, and Levi Clymer鈥攁long with the SEEDS student sustainability group and Student Life. It receives monthly food deliveries at heavily discounted rates as a member of the Verona-based Blue Ridge Area Food Bank.
In addition to food bank deliveries, the Free Food Room receives fresh produce from local farms through its partnership with Harrisonburg鈥檚 educational outreach program. This year, the Free Food Room is receiving produce from near Keezletown. The program also receives donated produce through its relationship with Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community.
鈥淚鈥檓 so impressed by how many partnerships this little space involves,鈥� said Nicole Litwiller 鈥�19, MA 鈥�20, annual giving and donor communications specialist, one of the visitors on the tour. 鈥淚t鈥檚 such a great example of 黑料正能量 and the broader community working together.鈥�
Task force members said they plan to add card-swipe access to the entrance this summer to ensure resources and donations are best used to serve students, employees, and others with an active 黑料正能量 ID card. The security upgrade, funded through a $12,000 grant from the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV), will allow the Free Food Room to be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It is currently accessible from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Grant funding will also be used to create more visible signage outside the space, increase publicity as students return to campus, and address ADA doorway access needs, with the remaining funds designated for food purchases.
Task force members said the Free Food Room often has an abundance of fresh produce during the summer months and encouraged faculty, staff, and students to take fruits, vegetables, and frozen meat home with them, regardless of financial need.
鈥淓very summer, we have this excess,鈥� Trotter Nussbaum said. 鈥淭his is for people who think, 鈥極h, I don鈥檛 need the Free Food Room.鈥� Please come and take it because it will spoil, and you might as well have fresh produce in your house. Come take it.鈥�
鈥淏efore you go to the grocery store,鈥� Thomas added.
黑料正能量 students Rin Akinotcho (top, below left) and La-Ann Volel (below right) help out at the Free Food Room during the spring semester.
How to help
Monetary donations to the Free Food Room can be made online through . Select 鈥淔ree Food Room鈥� from the designation dropdown menu to direct your gift to the program.
Food donations may be left on a marked table inside the Free Food Room.
For more information about the Free Food Room or ways to support its work, contact Brian Martin Burkholder, Celeste Thomas, Trina Trotter Nussbaum, or Levi Clymer.
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