Podcast: Winning the Pantry Bowl, With Stevie Kimmet

Theme Music (00:01):

Please listen carefully.

Taylor Pardue (00:07):

Welcome to the NC State Philanthropy Podcast, telling the world how we Think and Do through the support of our friends, alumni and more. I’m your host, Taylor Pardue.

(00:17)
On this episode, we’re joined by Stevie Kimmet, director of NC State’s Pack Essentials program, to discuss how donors provide for our Pack members in need — especially through a fun competition held with UNC-Chapel Hill each year.

(00:32)
Thanks so much for joining us today, Stevie. To kick things off, just tell listeners a little bit about yourself and what first brought you to NC State.

Stevie Kimmet (00:51):

Great question. Well, happy to be here. So, my name is Stevie Kimmet. I am the new program director for Pack Essentials, which is a part of the new Department of Resiliency and Community Support on campus, which is under the Office of Student Life and Advocacy. I started at NC State in 2019 in a doctoral program, but I’ve been working for Pack Essentials for the last almost two years now.

Taylor Pardue (01:13):

What all is involved in Pack Essentials? I know we’ve talked about it in previous episodes, but really, give listeners a brief overview of what all is encompassed with that. And they may have heard of Feed the Pack Food Pantry as well. Talk about how all that is woven together.

Stevie Kimmet (01:28):

Yes, great question. So, they used to be two separate programs, and they are now under one umbrella. So, Pack Essentials is really the program on campus that is dedicated to supporting students who are facing basic needs insecurity. So, within that, we are really focused on food, housing, health. So, with food, yes, we do run the Feed the Pack pantry on campus. That is a free resource for students, faculty and staff that was founded in 2012, and we also have several other food resources. One of them is our meal-share program. That is a partnership between University Dining, Student Government and Pack Essentials where students who have additional meal swipes from their meal plans can donate those to our program, and then we can allocate those to students who are in need of additional food resources.

(02:13)
But we also have some other opportunities as well. We have partnerships with several organizations and restaurants in Raleigh. One of them is A Place at the Table, which is a pay-what-you-can café in downtown Raleigh. Definitely check it out. They have three different models: You can volunteer for a meal, you can pay what you can or you can pay the suggested price. So, phenomenal partners. We also partner with Players Retreat, which donates gift cards to us for students who need additional food resources. Another great partnership is Raleigh City Farm; that’s an urban farm over by William Peace University, and they donate both produce to our pantry and farmstand tokens so that students can access produce.

(02:50)
So, we have lots of different things that we’re kind of working on with the food-resource piece, and then Pack Essentials is also supporting students primarily through our Student Emergency Fund grants. That is grant money that does not need to be repaid that can go to students who need support with rent, who are having trouble with health care expenses bills, who need support with essential utilities.

(03:16)
It can be flexibly dispersed. So, as little bureaucracy as possible is our goal. We want it to be easy and accessible for students who need support to get it from us, but we also, I think, pride ourselves on being the entity on campus that if a student is in crisis, if a student needs support with something and they submit a Pack Essentials application, we will know where to send them. We have really, really amazing partnerships with different organizations and different groups on campus: Office of Financial Aid, Office of International Services Cares, the counseling centers, Student Health, Student Legal Services, University Housing — all the friends. And so, we really want it to be, if you submit an application and you are looking for something, we will tell you not only what it is, but also how to get it, whether you’re eligible to receive that, those types of things.

(04:12)
We want to demystify for students how to get their needs met, and I think that’s really important because when you are experiencing hardship, when you’re in crisis, the last question that you should have to figure out how to answer is, “Who do I need to talk to? How many emails do I have to send? What if I don’t submit the application correctly?” So, we’re just out there trying to make sure that if it’s going to be helpful for a student who’s having some type of hardship, we’re going to make sure that they get it. That’s really the scope of the work that we do. It feels like, in some ways, it’s ever-expanding, but we are really, like I said, trying to focus on food, housing and health and making sure that students who are at NC State can focus on being students and they can thrive while they’re here.

Taylor Pardue (04:58):

You mentioned how the need is ever-expanding. This is probably my favorite thing to talk to potential donors about because we often think of, when giving to a university, about giving to a scholarship, primarily. That’s almost certainly where people’s minds start, but I like to tell people about Feed the Pack, about Pack Essentials, because it’s a way for them to impact students, potentially, all across the university, but that’s also the sad part because there are students in need all across our university. Talk a little bit about the need as-is and how it’s grown, certainly since COVID, but just where the data is right now with statistics.

Stevie Kimmet (05:38):

Yeah. Well, let me weave you a tale because I love to talk about the data of our program, and I’ll start at the beginning and bring us up to now. So, one of the great things about our program is, from the beginning, I think there have been folks supporting this work. And so, a lot of what we’ve done started with the NC State Food and Housing Insecurity Steering Committee. That’s still an active committee of folks from all over NC State’s community, but one of the founding members, Dr. Mary Hasket, who’s now retired but is still involved, has really helped us get a better sense of what’s happening on this campus with regards to food and housing insecurities. So, Dr. Hasket spearheaded three studies of food/housing insecurity on campus, one in 2017, one in 2020 and then the most recent one last year. And so, I think what is interesting about that is, there are benchmarks in which we have been expecting to see certain things.

(06:32)
We’ve been looking to see changes or increases or decreases, and I think there are some shocking things about that. So, in 2017, 9.6% of students were experiencing, I guess, the measure is one type of homelessness in the last 12 months. So, that doesn’t mean that almost 10% of NC State students were living outside or living in a shelter. The most common experience there is couch surfing, doubling up, staying informally with friends. And then in 2020 that jumped to 15% of students. So, a really marked increase, which I think you would maybe expect during the COVID-19 pandemic that stayed stable at about 14% in 2023. But with food insecurity, we’ve seen a really steady increase, all three iterations of the study. So, 15% of students were facing food insecurity in the last 30 days in 2017, 23% in 2020 and then 30% in 2023. So, when you think about 30% of 39,000 students, and that’s probably an under-reported number because of stigma, that’s just such a huge need that exists on this campus.

(07:52)
And then the other pieces that were measured in that study, I guess one way that we’re looking at housing insecurity is, are you confident in your academic year that you will be able to pay your rent? You’ll be able to remain stably housed all year? And what we found was that 11.3% of students in 2023, and I guess it was published in 2024, indicated they were not. And so, it’s not that you can add that on top of students experiencing homelessness, but it is to say that there is such a huge need out there. Students are really struggling to figure out, “How am I going to sustain myself? How am I going to support myself throughout this academic year?”

(08:32)
So, what does that mean in terms of our program, specifically? With Feed the Pack, that has translated into a demonstrable increase in use. We had a 41% increase in patron usage last year. In the 2023-24 academic year, what that means is, over 15,000 visits to the — so, we distributed last year over 236,000 pounds of food. And that is, to me, it’s almost, I mean it’s great that we had the food to distribute, and I can’t say enough about our partnerships. We had 155,000 pounds of that food was donated through folks who are ordering from our Amazon wishlist, from people who are driving by North Hall and dropping off extra things from drives that are happening on campus, but it’s also from our retail recovery partners: Food Lion, Wegmans, Publix, Sprouts, the Hindu Society — organizations that week after week are making sure that we have food to distribute in our pantry. And that is all organized by the Central Food Bank of the Carolinas. That is our longest-standing, most, I wouldn’t say valuable, but one of our most significant partnerships, and that’s all good, but it really doesn’t change for me the fact that our patrons are very consistent in the feedback that they give us.

(10:05)
We have to put limits on access to the resource because of our capacity, and people are very clear: They want to visit more, they want to take more food when they come, they want more variety, they want more specialty products. We know that we are doing everything we can every week to meet patron need and to meet the needs of this community, but we also know we have a lot of work to do and that we have to continue building capacity so that we can grow the scale of this pantry in order to meet the need that’s on this campus. And we’ve already seen in this year, just in the fall 2024 term, increases in our usage. So, we have already blown past some of our records. This September, we had our record number of visits in a couple of ways: We had over 1,600 visits to the pantry in September alone, and we had almost 750 exactly unique visits. That means unique individuals visiting at least one time. Last week, we hit our record number of visits for a single week: 443 visits. So, we just know that the need is out there; that we can always be thinking creatively about how to do better and do more, because our students and faculty and staff, in the case of the pantry, need it.

Taylor Pardue (11:26):

You mentioned patrons and the need. Who all can take advantage of Pack Essentials?

Stevie Kimmet (11:31):

Yeah, great question. So, with Pack Essentials, there’s a little bit of a difference. Students are eligible for things like the Student Emergency Fund, our meal-share program, referrals to our partner Host, which is a nonprofit — stands for Housing Options for Students Today. So, those things are reserved for students, both undergraduate and graduate, and Feed the Pack is available to students, faculty and staff. So, folks within the NC State community can access that resource, and it is a year-round resource as well. So, we are open during winter break. We’re open in spring, fall break. We’re open during the summer. So, that is something that’s a little bit different. When you go into MyPack Portal and you submit the application for Pack Essentials for support, that is reserved for students, but you don’t need to do that in order to access the pantries. If you go to Feed the Pack’s website, you’ll see our intake form. That’s not exclusive to students, and there’s nothing about that intake form that will disqualify someone from using the resource, either.

(12:23)
So, if you complete that, it’s not like we’re looking for income thresholds or number of hours a week worked. It’s not like a SNAP application or something similar, which that’s a great resource as well. We want people using that who are eligible, but we disproportionately serve graduate students, and we disproportionately serve international students. International students aren’t eligible for SNAP benefits or federal financial aid. So, we see clear trends in who needs the resource. We can kind of peel back the layers, and we understand why, but that doesn’t mean that those folks then have easy answers about how to get additional assistance, either.

Taylor Pardue (12:58):

You mentioned earlier about demystifying this process for potential patrons. We’ve talked about the “who,” but talk about the “how” now.

Stevie Kimmet (13:08):

Yeah. So, different. With Feed the Pack, it really is as simple as you can go onto our website, complete the intake form and then you just bring your student ID card to North Hall on Hillsborough Street, swipe in, done. And if you don’t have time to visit the website before, we’ve got the intake form posted with QR codes outside of the pantry space. What I love about that space as well is in those same kind of patron-experience feedback forms, one of the most consistent pieces of feedback we get also is that folks are having positive experiences. They love our staff, and they love our volunteers. We would not be able to do what we do without the support of our volunteers. We had about 3,000 hours of volunteer service last year, and we now have student employees who are really running that pantry day in and day out, making sure that the food gets picked up, things get shelved, people are welcomed.

(14:02)
And so, if there’s anything that I want people to know about Feed the Pack, it’s that we want people there, we want people using the resource, and when you come in, you are going to have a pleasant experience; that you’ll be welcomed with open arms into that space because we really want people using it. And so, that’s really it. Intake form, ID card, go with the Pack Essentials application. So, students can go to the Pack Essentials website, there’s a big button to follow the link to the application. You’re going to get redirected into MyPack Portal. You’ll use your Shibboleth credentials, and it literally could take someone five seconds to complete the application. It’s very, very easy. You’ll indicate what type of need you have, and then once you hit submit, our promise to students is that we will get back to you about your application within one business day. It’s usually more like six hours, in which we are individually calling every single student. So, we are going to call — listen to your voicemails; don’t screen me out, because I’m trying to get in touch with you — but we will call every student, and we want to have that personalized conversation because maybe you submit your application, need money for rent, but then when I start talking to you, it turns out that Feed the Pack might be a good resource, or maybe I learn also that you’re going through something with your landlord and you need to connect with Student Legal Services on campus. There are so many things that we uncover in those conversations, and it’s also, for me, a really important opportunity to make sure that students understand that this university cares. We care about their experiences, we want to meet their needs and they’re not going through this alone.

(15:52)
We just talked about the numbers, and one of the things I love to say to students, because sometimes I’ll talk to people and they’ll say, “I’m so sorry that I had to ask for help,” or, “Thank you so much, I can’t believe that this is here.” And what I say is, “If you were the only one, this program wouldn’t exist. Right? You’re not the only one, and we are here because we know students face challenges, and there should be a safety net for you on this campus so that you aren’t derailed by one medical bill or by one missed rent payment.” And so, it’s really that simple. Hit submit, and someone will call you, and we will talk to you about it, and I hope it’ll be a good conversation. I like talking to students. I like it when they answer the phone. Sometimes they don’t, but I like to talk to them. And I think in both cases, it’s just, I want people to know that you will have an OK time. We want to hear from you, we want to connect with you and we want to help.

Taylor Pardue (16:50):

Well, here’s the big question for listeners of this podcast.

Stevie Kimmet (16:54):

Sure.

Taylor Pardue (16:55):

How can we help?

Stevie Kimmet (16:56):

Oh, boy. So many ways.

Taylor Pardue (16:58):

Which is great to hear because, I know a lot of times, so many times, I think people think, “I have to give money, and I have to give X amount for it to really matter.”

Stevie Kimmet (17:09):

Oh, gosh.

Taylor Pardue (17:10):

So many different ways we can give with this.

Stevie Kimmet (17:12):

Oh, this is one of my favorite things to talk about. As a person with a long history in nonprofits, I think that the most successful organizations are the ones that find lots of ways to engage. And I don’t care if someone wants to give us money or if they want to give us time or if they want to give us their energy. I welcome it all. Bring it on. So, some of the simple things that people can do if you’re not in a position to give a lot of time or money: follow Feed the Pack on Instagram, share our posts, done. Some of the things that you can do is forward some of our newsletters to your communities, your networks. You can invite us to your whatever, your group of choices. Do you want to bring us in to your church group? Do you want to bring us into your Rotary Club meeting? Do you want us to come to your PTA gathering? We will be there, and we will talk to your community about our work. If that is the level of support that you have to give us, we love it. You can also give donations to Feed the Pack, and there are several ways that folks can get involved at that level. So, simplest is, I have some extra things in my home, and I’m ready to donate them. We have a little drive-up door behind North Hall. You just drive on up, ring our doorbell, someone will come out, they’ll receive your donations. That’s really easy.

(18:37)
But you also are welcome to visit Feed the Pack’s website. We have an Amazon wishlist you can order from your Amazon account, have it delivered. We will go collect it from the mail room. That is simple. You’re also welcome to look at the list on the Feed the Pack website of most-needed items and bring those by. That’s great. Sometimes, folks organize drives for us where you will work with. We have a fantastic team of students. I cannot emphasize enough that it is not me; it is a whole big team of beautiful, genius people out there supporting this work and doing it day in and day out. But we have an amazing outreach coordinator who helps people set up drives. So, we have one today with fraternity and sorority life, and I couldn’t believe they just kept coming in with carts and carts and carts of things.

(19:27)
But if you want to get involved in that way, we will help you set it up. You can also choose to sponsor a shelf. So, we have a sponsorship currently of our hygiene and personal care section so that we can make sure that we are providing shampoo, conditioner, body wash, toothpaste, menstrual products, those types of things for the next couple of years. But if you want to give it a different level and you want to make sure that we have lentils for three years, great, we love lentils, we’ll take that. So, whatever it is you want to sponsor because you think there’s a need for it, we are happy to get you dialed in. Those are lots of different ways to donate items and to bring things into the pantry, and honestly, we rarely turn a donation away because you never know.

(20:11)
We had someone donate a crockpot;  a student was overjoyed to take that crockpot. We had someone once bring by eight pieces of luggage; they were gone that day. We also have a partnership with the flower shuttle. They bring by flowers usually twice a week. Sometimes it’s herbs, sometimes it’s bouquets. And to be able to offer some of those specialty items that really round out a student’s experience in that space, it’s one of the best parts of our time. So, whatever it is people think would be a value add probably is. So, bring it on down. We’re happy to take it. If folks want to give financially, that is also very welcome. There are lots of ways to give to our work. We have several different types of funds. We have our Student Emergency Fund endowment, so you can help seed money for the grants that we provide to give emergency assistance to students.

(21:04)
You can donate to the Feed the Pack fund. We also have a new Feed the Pack endowment that we are trying to grow so that we eventually can count on a more consistent base of just financial worth. Every year, we are a fundraising, mainly, operation. You can also give to the Pack Essentials fund. That is a very diverse fund. Essentially, you can give whatever level you want. And for the folks out there that are like, “Well, is this really going to make a difference?” What I’ll say is, $10 is a case of mac and cheese, and that is one of the most popular things that we distribute in the pantry. So, if you can think about an amount, that’s an amount that we welcome. And that’s something that becomes particularly important when we have major fundraising opportunities like Day of Giving or the Pantry Bowl, because we typically have folks who have agreed to do matching gifts.

(21:59)
And so, sometimes, your $5 gift might be the last donation we need to hit that match. That, last year, is what allowed us to get our Feed the Pack van. We literally just picked it up last week, and that was only made possible through a match gift from Day of Giving, and, now, we don’t have to rent from motor pool. That is money that we are saving, the amount that we spend on that monthly. I can’t tell you how much we spend on produce, how much we spend on infant care products or how much we spend on eggs, yogurt, tofu. Our spending comes from the fresh, nutritious, healthy products that we are putting in the pantry. It is not just shelf-stable items. It is proteins, it’s all the things. And when we think about saving that X number from the rental fee, that’s money we can spend on food for students, faculty and staff.

(22:56)
And so, whatever level it is that folks want to give, I guarantee it has impact. I guarantee that it means something to our program. And then the last thing that I’ll say about how you can get involved is, going back to that volunteer number, almost 3,000 hours last year. We are a lean team. We are a lean team, and that volunteer service is how we open our doors every day. And it’s not just the pantry. Yes, folks come in, they help us with pickups, they help us stock shelves, they help us greet patrons, they help us keep everything clean and organized. They do all of those things, and we love it, but they also go to tabling events with us and they help us do outreach and speak to the work that we’re doing on this campus and inform people about our services and resources. They help us by brokering conversations with potential partners.

(23:49)
So, there are so many ways to lend your time as well, if time is what you have to give, and what I love about — we also have a phenomenal volunteer coordinator, and what I love about our volunteer coordinator is just how energetic this student is and how deeply she cares about plugging people into our work. She is about to graduate this December. It will be devastating, but — it’ll be hard. We’ll be okay. We’ll be okay. But I’m just so excited about the work that she’s done because she’s really laid this foundation of, you want to come in as a group with your corporate team? Come on in. You want to get involved because you’re a retiree and you have time on Mondays? Great. She’s just really, really good at honoring the gift of time, and we welcome that as well. So, I like to tell people, “If you have a vision of how you can support our work and how you want to get involved, I want to hear it.” So, come to North Hall, we’ll be there.

Taylor Pardue (24:49):

You mentioned North Hall. Talk about this new hub.

Stevie Kimmet (24:53):

Yes.

Taylor Pardue (24:53):

It’s, for listeners who don’t already know, it’s located right on Hillsborough [Street] across from, I believe it’s … Caldwell? Tompkins?

Stevie Kimmet (24:59):

That’s right. Yep. So, we have been in North Hall since about April of 2023, and the pantry has had several locations, all with their benefits, but what I love about our new space — well, there’s a lot to love. One of the main things that I think is best about where we are now is, for folks who are coming from outside the university, we were in Quad Commons before, which is a lovely, amazing building and location, and that worked so well for us for many reasons, but if you’re somebody who’s coming from outside of NC State and you’re like, “Well, I got to go in there, and I got to figure out how to park, and then what do I do when I take … ?” And so, now we’re just right on Hillsborough. You just pull on over, you drive by our little back door, you ring our doorbell. It is easy to get plugged in. It is not confusing if you are not interested that day in wading into how do you figure out all that is campus.

(25:55)
I also love that it triangulates all three of our campuses. We are on the Wolfline for both Centennial and College of Veterinary Medicine, so students from all parts of the university can more easily access where we are. We also have a lounge now, which I know you’re like, “What are these people going to be doing with a lounge?” I will tell you: I think that it is a game changer in terms of the culture and as my students say, “the vibes.” The vibes are great. They’re “immaculate.” I know that one’s not cool anymore, but it’s great because now we can have our partners there and they table. So, we can bring in, the counseling center comes every Tuesday.

(26:37)
We have someone from Student Health who offers nutrition counseling there once a month. We’ve got career services out there talking to students about résumés and portfolio development. So, we can really make use of that space. We know students need resources, and they’re there, so we might as well bring it to them. But what I also love is that if you come an hour before the pantry opens, that space is full, and it is filled with students who are doing homework together, who are chatting with their friends, who are catching up. Food is community in so many cultures, and to see that space become a vibrant community hub is something we’ve never had before. And so, the lounge for me is it, it’s what I love most about where we are. I love to see people gathering, and I love to see people together. And we do our own programming in that space as well. We had a bingo game for wellness day, and it was popping. We do all kinds of stuff, and people have a good time, and that’s what I want. I want people to come for the resource and stay for the community. And I think that that is something that we are now able to build because we are where we are, and we have parking. That’s huge. Two parking spaces. We want more, but we have two for now.

Taylor Pardue (27:56):

I do want to put a plugin for faculty and staff for NC State. If you have community service hours through the university, they count toward this.

Stevie Kimmet (28:06):

Oh my gosh, yes, they do. Yes. And we want them. I can’t tell you how many, some of our, it’s not that I want to play favorites, but some of our best, most consistent, just absolute champion volunteers are staff and faculty members who have been volunteering with Feed the Pack for years and years. It just blows me away that people, everyone is so busy on this campus. We’re all really talented, devoted people, and the fact that people still carve out time every single week and they show up and they support our work. And honestly, I think it is such an incredible example to set for our students as well, to see folks who are established in their careers who, maybe you are a mechanical engineer or maybe you are a biopharmaceutical engineer or something, and you are still coming into the pantry to give your time.

(29:06)
I think it is really incredible and special, and I think that it is a beautiful way to maintain that pulse point with students if you are wanting more of that connection. But I can’t say enough about how amazing our volunteers are. It’s not just students; it is so many faculty and staff who show up. And I know our students really, really respect them. I know that it’s great for them to have that person when they’re not sure or they are feeling uneasy about a certain task or a certain interaction. To have someone who’s a little more seasoned, someone who has a little more experience to be there as almost a mentor, I think is something that really adds a layer of depth to the experience that folks are having.

Taylor Pardue (29:49):

I think it’s a great way for professors, for one, to show, like you mentioned, caring for the whole student. Your grades are very important, but we care about you as a whole person, too. And then for staff, I know a lot of times, we work a nine to five job. We are in an office, eight to five job, whatever your hours may be. But we’re on a college campus, but sometimes we’re in meetings, we’re on Zoom calls. We’re not really interacting with students, per se, on a day-to-day basis or a week-to-week basis or even. This is a great way to put in that face time and really reconnect with what’s important here at the university.

Stevie Kimmet (30:25):

Yes. And, fun fact, we have Saturday hours now, too. So, if you find you’re just too busy during the week and you want to come hit us up on a Saturday, we would love to see you there, too. And that has been one of the most hotly requested things that we have been able to offer this year. We finally had a little bit more capacity to be able to open on Saturdays. Students don’t have to worry about class or, necessarily, their work schedules are not as tight. We also are serving more and more folks with families. So, with dependents. So, you don’t have to worry about getting childcare for your kids or taking your kids out of school. It’s something that, now, is much more accessible to some of the folks that I think are most in need of the service. So, if you want to come on down on a Saturday, that’s also available.

Taylor Pardue (31:11):

Sounds great.

Stevie Kimmet (31:12):

Yes. And as we were talking, I also wanted to plug another way that folks can get involved.

Taylor Pardue (31:16):

Absolutely.

Stevie Kimmet (31:16):

This is particularly for folks who are internal to the university. We have a program that we have relaunched. It’s an asynchronous kind of, not really a training, I would say it’s an orientation. It’s called PEAK — Pack Essentials Advocate Knowledge program that is in Reporter. You can access it there. It is free. It is not that time-consuming. But one of the things that I love about this program is that if you’re somebody who is interested in learning a little bit more about how do these issues affect this community, what are some of the ways that I can get involved, this is a program for you. And I think that it’s something that students, faculty and staff can take. It’s not very much time on your part, but what we ask from folks when they complete it is to select commitments.

(32:06)
So, before you get your certificate, you have to tell us what are you going to do as an advocate for this work and for basic needs on this campus. And there are lots of low-hanging options, including putting a message about Pack Essentials in your syllabus or offering snacks in your office or inviting one of us to come in and give a presentation to your colleagues or to your students if you’re teaching that semester. And so, that is an opportunity as well to just learn because I think I find that the more we talk about these issues on this campus, the less stigma students who need resources feel and the more comfortable they feel knowing that’s a safe person for me to talk to about the fact that I can’t buy my book this semester because I had to pay my rent, or I’m really struggling to get all of this work done because I am in a paid job 40 hours a week because that’s what I have to do. And so, I really encourage folks to check out that program as well and to take time to complete that and to promote that amongst your department or your colleagues because that is a simple way to learn a little bit more about this issue and to show students that you are thinking about what you can do to intervene.

Taylor Pardue (33:24):

We’ll be sure to include links to this in the show notes …

Stevie Kimmet (33:29):

Yeah, thank you.

Taylor Pardue (33:29):

… to the giving opportunities. Talk a little bit about this one particular giving opportunity that we have coming up, as of this recording, in a few weeks still.

Stevie Kimmet (33:40):

Yes.

Taylor Pardue (33:40):

But talk about the Pantry Bowl.

Stevie Kimmet (33:42):

Yes. So, the Pantry Bowl is the major fundraising event each year for Feed the Pack, and that is huge. Last year, we raised just over $125,000, which, for us, that is about what we spend on food or what we will spend on food this year. And like I said, that food is the part of our program that I think is most significant for changing the pantry game. Like I said, it’s not just canned soup and pasta and rice and beans. We are really trying to meet students in a healthy, rounded way, and all of our spending comes from those products. So, this event is an opportunity for us to seed our food budget for the next year, and we couldn’t sustain our operations without the level of giving that we’ve seen in the Pantry Bowl the last three years. And so, it’s also a little bit of a friendly rivalry moment.

(34:45)
I am not a very competitive person, I’ll be honest, but this is one competition I can get behind. I think it’s a win-win: UNC’s pantry gets a boost, our pantry gets a boost, and I think that that is, it’s great. Throw your support of athletics into a time of year where I think people are really sitting down with their families, they’re spending time over meals together, they’re bonding over, again, that community experience of food. And so, if you want to support that, more to come. We are about to go live with the Pantry Bowl website. There’s a fun, live tracking element to it so you can see when your gift is made that we’re one more up against UNC. So, I really hope, again, we’re not home this year for the UNC-NC State game, so I want to show UNC that we can win even when we’re away.

(35:41)
But again, not competitive. So, I really hope that folks will choose to support that, make that part of your planned giving this year, make that part of the way that you support other families during the holiday season. And we, again, welcome any and all gifts because they all make a difference. They all matter. There is a match component that the website for the Pantry Bowl will explain. So, we really hope we hit that threshold so that we can unlock that match and bring in, like I said, the most significant dollar value that we raise each year for the pantry.

Taylor Pardue (36:14):

Thanks so much for joining us today, Stevie, and sharing all this great information, and thank you just for the work that you’re doing. We will be sure to share links in the show notes so that listeners can learn even more about this.

Stevie Kimmet (36:24):

Amazing. Well, thank you so much for having me. I’m really excited to see how folks engage with the podcast, and I hope to see folks checking out the new and hopefully out-soon website for the Pantry Bowl.

Taylor Pardue (36:42):

To learn more about the Pantry Bowl and how you can help propel NC State to another win, please visit pantrybowl.com. To hear even more stories of Wolfpack success, please subscribe to the NC State Philanthropy Podcast today via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher or Podbean. Be sure to leave a comment and rating as well to let us know how we’re doing.

(37:03)
Thanks for listening, and as always, go Pack.