Campus Food Pantry Celebrates 10 Years of Service

On April 2, nearly 120 students, faculty and friends of The University of Texas at Dallas gathered at the Davidson-Gundy Alumni Center for a 10-year anniversary celebration of the Comet Cupboard, the University’s student-led food pantry.

The idea for an on-campus pantry was first imagined by UT Dallas employees in 2011, and the Comet Cupboard officially opened its doors in 2012. Since then, it has served more than 12,000 students during numerous crises impacting their access to food, including the COVID-19 pandemic.

“In true undergraduate education fashion, they took an idea to respond to student needs and made it happen quickly,” said Dr. Jessica Murphy, dean of undergraduate education and the Mary McDermott Cook Chair for Undergraduate Education. “The Cupboard began as a converted storage closet. Its grand opening was celebrated with tacos, cupcakes and the band, and the doors were opened with the first donation by the women’s basketball team.”

At the celebration event, Hillary Beauchamp Campbell, director of undergraduate programs in the Office of Undergraduate Education, announced plans to introduce a mobile pantry in early 2025.

“Not all students have cars or access to transportation,” Comet Cupboard supporter Deanna Waddell said. “Some live in areas not serviced by public transit systems, thus they can’t benefit from the pantry’s services.”

The new outreach vehicle is being made possible through contributions from groups and individuals, including Brewster and Deanna Waddell who recently pledged $50,000 for mobile operations.

“A mobile pantry can come to them,” Brewster Waddell said. “By having a fixed location and a mobile delivery option, the Comet Cupboard will gain visibility within the business community, leading to greater investment in infrastructure that will help the students have increased choices of goods and services.”

The Comet Cupboard will still maintain its brick-and-mortar location in the Eugene McDermott Library, having recently completed a lofty expansion. Along with increased square footage in a new space, the cupboard added refrigerators that allow for a wider variety of stock, more shelving, wider doors to accommodate larger pallets of food and a full-time salaried position to manage operations. These changes were made possible in part by a $75,000 grant from the North Texas Food Bank (NTFB).

“We know that hunger can negatively impact student success,” said Anne Readhimer, vice president of community impact at NTFB. “Whether that means the inability to focus in class, the inability to study and prepare effectively for an exam, keeping that attention during class and even social connections are impacted by food insecurity. Pantries like the Comet Cupboard help close that gap.”

Corporate partners such as State Farm and H-E-B frequently partner with the pantry. Last year, H-E-B gifted $25,000 to help with operations. Since 2021, State Farm has contributed $120,000, including a $50,000 pledge to the new mobile operations.

“Through the nearly 10 years of charitable funding that State Farm has provided to UTD, it seeks to improve the completion rates by removing barriers of learning for students,” Princella McNair, a corporate responsibility analyst at State Farm, said. “We support the Comet Cupboard and everything they do.”