FREE MEALS FROM THE PITT EATS FOOD PANTRY ARE DELIVERED TO TEMPERATURE-CONTROLLED LOCKERS, WHERE OTHER DELIVERIES ARE MADE TO STUDENTS. | PHOTOS COURTESY PITT EATS

A program at University of Pittsburgh is helping students who face food insecurity get free meals in a new, discreet way.

Recent research shows that 18% of students have trouble accessing enough food, yet the current campus food pantry is accessed by far fewer students. That’s why Pitt Eats, operated by Chartwells Higher Education dining services, has unveiled new, temperature-controlled food lockers where students registered with the food pantry can collect a free meal.

The program, more than one year in the making, is a promise to students on campus that they can reach out for help in a more confidential way. It’s just one piece of a larger food insecurity issue in the United States, where 1 in 3 college students are estimated to be food insecure. 

Many of the students who are struggling at Pitt may be “silently hungry,” says Quintin Eason, Pitt Eats vice president of operations. While the food pantry is great in theory, in practice, students may not want to publicly come forward for help. 

“And that’s the scary part,” says Eason. “That’s why we developed the program.”

It allows them to order a free meal using a mobile app, Transact Mobile Ordering. Students can then collect their meal from the same location where other students pick up packages. With the food lockers, the first of which were placed in the Litchfield Towers residential complex, students can also order meals using panther funds, a form of currency that students can spend at on-campus and select off-campus dining locations. Students can order food to be delivered to the lockers from campus restaurants such as Pom & Honey or groceries from Forbes Street Market.

Eason explains that the meals are not simply recycled or leftover food. The meals are prepared during the day, cooled down and placed into temperature-controlled lockers for students to collect when they need a meal. The flexibility of the program means that students can save the meal to reheat for later or order a hot meal to eat right away.

The program allots 61 compartments, 25 of which are designated for the Pitt Pantry meals. The others will be reserved for on-campus mobile orders and grocery deliveries. During weekdays, 25 food pantry meals will be stocked mid-afternoon, and a second pickup will be available on Friday to cover the weekend meal. More meals may be added over time, if demand were to increase.

In the future, Eason says the lockers will be expanded — based on data on how heavily they’re used — to other locations such as residence halls on north campus or on the outskirts of main campus.

He wants students struggling to know that they aren’t alone. There are resources available, from free meals to counseling services to employment opportunities.

Students also can volunteer with Food Recovery Heroes, a Pitt student-run organization with a mission to combat food insecurity. Volunteers package meals and fulfill orders, among other tasks. Eason describes it as an “echo chamber of compassion.”

“Let’s make sure that we tackle and capture as much of the 18%,” says Eason. “and make sure they’re getting their needs filled.”