The Blazer Pantry has become a resource that helps students focus on academic success and not worry about temporary financial difficulties they have.
Every Wednesday, Utah Tech University students who have a difficult time affording food essentials can fill their bags with free products at the Blazer Pantry.
What is the Blazer Pantry?
The Blazer Pantry is managed by the Student Resource Center, which provides food and necessities for students who are in difficult financial situations.
“Three years ago, we started transitioning the pantry over to the resource center, so it could be a basic need resource for students,” said Drusilla Bottoms, director of the Student Resource Center.
Bottoms said last year, 3,187 students visited the Blazer Pantry for food sources.
Who can use the pantry?
The pantry is open to students and staff. Students who want to get orders from the pantry do not need a reason.
“Or say you need gas for that week and you do not have enough money for gas and groceries,” Bottoms said. “We would rather you buy gas and then use the food pantry.”
Chloe Divelbiss, a junior population health major from Bakersfield, California, and a part-time pantry employee, said every student with needs who has a D number can make an order in the pantry.
Location and hours of operation
The pantry is located on the first floor of the Browning Learning Resource Center in room 103. It is open Monday through Thursday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Friday from noon to 2 p.m.
Near the pantry, there is a coffee station, where students are welcome to take a coffee or hot cocoa, and a self-care station, where students can take hygiene products.
How to receive the order
To receive the products they need, students need to make an order online and pick up the products at the Browning Learning Resource Center.
The order can be made by visiting the Utah Tech food resources website page, finding the Blazer Food Pantry section, and logging in with the student’s ID for the order.
“When their [students’] time opens, or really anytime that day the pantry is open, they [students] can come, and our student workers will give them their order,” Bottoms said.
What does Blazer Pantry offer?
The Blazer Pantry offers fresh and canned produce, allowing one person to take up to 25 items per week.
“We have milk, cheese, butter, we kind of have the same things every week,” Bottoms said. “If students need food, and they have used [the pantry] before, they know what to expect when they come.”
The pantry restocks fresh products each Wednesday.
Come & Get It
Additionally, the Student Resource Center has the Come & Get It program to give free food to students. The food is donated by local businesses, which partner with the pantry.
To be a part of the Come & Get It program and get a notification about food available on campus, students need to download the myUT app, log in with their student ID and make sure their notifications are enabled.
“Once there is free food, whether that is food from the food pantry or we have food that we are not able to leave there, we usually send [a notification] submitted through a Come and Get It form,” Brenda Medrano, Student Resource Center case manager, said. “And this really helps feed some students on campus.”
