A student-operated food bank at the University of Galway is forced to turn away hundreds of students each week due to overwhelming demand, despite distributing almost €500,000-worth of food last year, as the cost-of-living crisis deepens.
On Friday well over 100 students joined an orderly queue in the basement of the University of Galway library for a 3pm slot at The Spéir student pantry.
Originally designed as an environmental initiative, distributing surplus food from supermarkets to students, the pantry now plays an increasingly vital role in student welfare at the university.
Established by Donegal student Adam Mullins, it originally operated out of the shed of his rented student accommodation using a donated chest freezer, with surplus food collected from supermarkets all over Co Galway.
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Over the past two years, the university and its students’ union have come on board to support the pantry.
“The cost-of-living crisis is crazy and it massively impacts us [students]. You see it everywhere and it is getting worse,” said Mullins.
“I get a random assortment of products each day. You never know what you’re going to get, but still, the students show up anyway. So there is something driving them to come to the pantry.”
He said students have told him they couldn’t afford to stay in college without the pantry. “It is getting worse. Everything is expensive now,” Mullins said.
Weekly demand for the student pantry far outweighs supply. Students access the service online, with a lottery system to decide who gets a time slot. Each week, hundreds of registered students are disappointed.
Séan de Búrca, vice-president for education at the students’ union, said food poverty was forcing more and more students to drop out.
“How can you pay attention in class when you are wondering where you are sleeping that night?” he said.
“It is no surprise that you are seeing people dropping out because they simply can’t afford to go to college.”
De Búrca said the pantry was a vital lifeline for many students feeling the cost-of-living crisis even more than the rest of the population.
“The situation is getting worse in Galway ... Students are going in and out of tenancy agreements all the time, so their rent is getting jacked up at a much faster rate than the rest of the population,” he said.
Law student Aly was one of the several hundred students who accessed the food pantry on Friday.
[ Grocery prices rise nearly 7%, the fastest increase in two yearsOpens in new window ]
Without the pantry, there were times where she would have to go hungry in order to pay rent, she said.
“This helps a lot. I struggle to pay rent, so food is lower on my list of priorities. The pantry is a huge asset. The money that I save by coming here might keep me going for a week until my next pay cheque comes in,” she said.
The pantry meant she did not have to worry about food any more, she said.
“If you don’t have enough food, it really impacts on college and how well you can concentrate,” she said.
The pantry works in partnership with FoodCloud, an Irish not-for-profit social enterprise which aims to tackle food insecurity by redistributing surplus food from supermarkets.
Mullins describes the pantry as a community initiative rather than a food bank as he feared some students might be put off by the food bank label.
“We don’t call ourselves a food bank, we call ourselves a food pantry. It is like a free grocery store for the student community of food that is surplus,” he said.
