Erinn Finley
Contributing Writer
[email protected]

Racers Helping Racers employees continue to donate food to students through the COVID-19 pandemic.  

Trish Lofton, the administrative assistant for student life, said employees were extremely busy serving students stranded on campus after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. When campus shut down, the pantry workers started the Curbside Pantry, which allowed online orders to be filled. They served students this way until classes resumed in August  2020. Now they serve students  through curbside at the Curris Center and through their location in the Blackburn Science Building.

COVID-19 has affected food pantries around the country. According to a brief by Feeding America, a hunger-relief organization, food insecurity problems have increased during the COVID-19 pandemic because of numerous factors.

“The Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is impacting vulnerable households in various ways,” according to the brief. “Many food-insecure individuals have characteristics that put them at a higher risk for severe illness associated with COVID-19.”

Business increased at food donation sites around the country. Several of the food donation sites around Murray continued work throughout the pandemic and Racers Helping Racers was no exception.

“In 2020, we served on average 18 students a month through our walk-in food pantry and our online Curbside service,” Lofton said.

The pantry only requires a Racer ID and the pantry employees ask students to fill out a basic information form. The pantry keeps student information confidential and only uses statistical information from the form. 

The food pantry has a variety of items that students may need, including prepackaged food, toiletries and more. The food pantry receives donations from multiple sources in order to remain stocked.

Shelby Parker, an employee at the food pantry, said anyone can make a donation. The food pantry receives a lot of food from different organizations, undergraduate classes assigning extra credit and the parking services office from students who get tickets.

The parking office mentions the Pay It Forward program on its website. Students who have to pay a parking fine can bring non-perishable food items to the parking office and have one eligible citation waved per semester.The site also includes a list of food items students can bring and a list of eligible citations.

The pantry contains shelves full of donated food and toiletries. There are three full shelving units and numerous cabinets and drawers filled with items.

“We used to have like four hundred jars of peanut butter in here,” Parker said.

Parker said they donated a lot of the peanut butter because nobody really used it. They donate food  that they cannot use themselves or that is a few months before its expiration date to Need Line, a local food pantry.

Construction on the Blackburn Science Building provides an additional challenge for the pantry.

Parker said one day she could not  get into the building because the doors were being replaced.

The workers finally moved for her, but she was not sure if students would be able to get in if they needed.

Parker hopes more awareness of the food pantry spreads on campus because she thinks more than half of students do not know it is an option. She has had students call and not know where the building is. She had not heard of the food pantry herself until she got hired to work there.

Despite these struggles, the pantry has continued to grow. When Parker first started two years ago, only some of the cabinets were full, but while working there, she had to clean out and stock many more. 

Blessing boxes are another source of help in the local community. These are enclosed boxes, usually outside, where people can take or leave supplies. Supplies often include non-perishable food, toiletries and clothes. 

Murray has blessing boxes all around the community. Locations include local schools, parks and churches. The Christian Community Church has partnered with the Calloway County Collective Facebook Group to establish more locations around the community. 

Currently, Murray State does not have a blessing box on campus. Parker said she thought a blessing box on campus would be a great way for college students to get involved. She said some people might be nervous coming into the pantry, so a blessings box might be a more anonymous way to get food if they need it.

Racers Helping Racers welcomes donations of all kinds. Parker said toiletries are a good donation because they are hard to keep in stock.

Students who wish to use the pantry can place an order online and pick it up curbside at the Curris Center. Students can also go in person to the Blackburn Science Building in room 244 and receive supplies. More information on the food pantry can be found at murraystate.edu/campus/CurrisCenter/racershelpingracers.aspx