The Associated Students Inc. Beach Pantry hosted a one-day pop-up market to offer assistance to students after President Jane Close-Conoley sent out an email Tuesday morning calling for the reduction of use to the University Student Union.
The pantry is normally located in USU-313, but the event was held on the West Patio to help encourage and maintain social distancing practices.
The decision to close the pantry comes at the discretion of ASI leadership as most services are student-run and with the university not considering them as “essential” employees, they’ve been forced to take a step back.
“We don’t know exactly when the USU will reopen 100%,” said James Ahumada, ASI senior communications manager. “So we wanted to make sure to provide produce to get out to students.”
The pop-up was set up in the wake of an announcement made by Conoley that strongly encouraged students to leave campus housing if they are able to do so.
“There’s been a lot of fear and anxiety trying to find food and supplies,” Kevin Jimenez, a fourth-year electrical engineering major said. “I’m really grateful to ASI for helping out the students in alleviating some stress when it comes to finding food.”
There are no current plans for future pop-ups.
“We opened today’s pop-up to make sure that food was distributed to students in need and to make sure students had the opportunity to choose from the current produce available, which soon would go bad,” Ahumada said.
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