Resource Pantry Receives Gateway to Equity Award
The WCU Resource Pantry was selected for a third year to receive the Gateway to Equity Award from the American Association of University Women (AAUW). AAUW previously chose the pantry as its beneficiary in 2017 and 2018.
The award brings support by the local AAUW branch, which will dedicate this coming academic year to providing the pantry with in-kind donations such as personal care products, winter clothing, gift cards, and educational supplies. One of the AAUW branch officers has served on the Advisory Board of the Pantry.
“This is surely a testament to the hard work and dedication of our professional staff and para-professionals, in particular, Pam Frontino and Jack Horne, our 2019-20 Resource Pantry graduate assistant,” said Seth Jacobson, senior director of WCU’s Office of Service Learning & Volunteer Programs (OSLVP). “Their passion and commitment to students’ basic need security has driven the Resource Pantry’s provision of high quality, reliable, and accessible service.”
Frontino, OSLVP’s associate director, accepted the award on behalf of the Pantry during a virtual ceremony held May 20.
During the 2018-2019 academic year, the Resource Pantry was able to serve 740 students for a total of 5,100 visits. In addition, the pantry distributed 17,377 pounds of food, 16,248 personal care products, 2,646 school supplies, and 661 articles of clothing. The total value of in-kind donations received during that academic year was $58,468.23.
Between Aug. 26, 2019, and March 13, 2020, the Resource Pantry saw approximately 4,500 visits and 620 individual visitors, Frontino estimated.
The Gateway to Equity Award honors a local individual, group, or organization that has shown by action and philosophy the promotion of the AAUW mission to advance equity for women and girls through advocacy, education, and research. Former WCU president Madeleine Wing Adler was the first recipient of the award in 2008. Last year’s award supported Decade to Doorways, the Chester County organization dedicated to eliminating homelessness, through which AAUW supported four homeless shelters in Chester County.
AAUW West Chester-Chester Co., PA Branch was organized and founded in 1959 by faculty from West Chester University and community leaders.