Expansion of the needs-blind Barnett & Irvine Cherry Pantry allows more room for resources and impact in the Temple community
The Cherry Pantry, previously enjoyed in the second floor of the Howard Gittis Student Center, recently moved to a larger space on the first floor in order to accommodate an increase in demand and turn-out for its resources by the Temple community. The move has allowed the Pantry to house and store non-perishable goods and other basic needs, such as refrigerated fresh produce, menstrual products, hygiene items, and so much more.
With a bigger location, the Pantry can adequately provide goods and services to any member of the Temple community. Despite the physical changes, the Pantry still approaches the community with the same equitable treatment they have pushed the entirety of their time at Temple through their longstanding vision.
In the academic year 2023-2024, the Pantry saw 9,000-plus visits and clocked an average of almost 300 shoppers a week.
The location switch was an entirely necessary move to meet the increase in demand faced by the Pantry last year, as explained by Natalie Knox, a senior English major and student coordinator for the Pantry.
“The only way we could expand to do more than just food insecurity was to put in a larger space where we could tackle hygiene and other storage spacing, as well,” Knox said.
The move provided not only the space required to house such goods, but it also provided the opportunity to expand the types of goods offered and identified a larger range of issues in the community beyond just food insecurity.
Annette Ditolvo, Senior Program Manager for Basic Need Support at Temple and the Cherry Pantry Coordinator, recognizes how the move to a larger location means more opportunity and considerable credibility.
“At the university and institutional level, there’s an investment in this work,” said Ditolvo. “Since we’ve been down here, we’ve been able to scale our operations to serve more people, and we have. If the resources are there, people are using them.”
Another critical point of the Pantry’s growth is becoming a “needs-blind” facility, where no proof of eligibility is necessary to acquire goods and access the space. Being needs-blind expands the eligible user pool beyond just students by also inviting adjuncts, faculty, and staff to access the Pantry’s resources, as well.
“We are a judge-free zone. The only requirement we ask is that you have an active Temple ID,” Knox said.
Having a needs-blind status also helps to overcome the larger enemy of stigma when it comes to accessing needs-driven resources like the Pantry.
“We are aware that there is a large social stigma in accessing essential services that not only affects college students but is a persistent issue across the country and the world,” said Ditolvo. “It’s really essential for us to have as little barriers as possible to accessing our services.”
As a unit the Pantry projects a message that is centered around reducing the shame surrounding the access of need-based resources in our community.
“Knowing that they can come to a space with someone that is familiar with them and is still judge-free just helps break down that wall and potential barrier that could come with the desire to access this resource,” Knox said.
Besides providing aid through the goods distributed, another goal of the Pantry is to create a welcoming, comfortable space where shoppers and workers alike can feel a sense of camaraderie and support with one another.
“There is such a grassroots feel in the pantry that is just really palpable,” said Ditolvo.
Both Knox and Ditolvo describe how getting to work with student volunteers and members of the community has been one of the highlights of their work. Getting to see different backgrounds and perspectives while also gaining tidbits of insight into the personal lives of the visitors has made running the Pantry such a rich experience for all the years they have done so.
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