This fall, Concordia received a one-year grant of $14,750 from the Minnesota Office of Higher Education Hunger Free Campus. 

The Hunger Free Campus grants help schools actively tackle the issue of food insecurity on campuses, as well as raise hunger awareness across Minnesota. Heather Simonich, Concordia’s director for the Center for Holistic Health, is the principal investigator on this grant.

With the grant support, Concordia is now a Hunger Free Campus Designation according to OHE guidelines. Hunger Free Campuses are schools in which:

• an on-campus food pantry is available,
• information regarding food insecurity and how to combat it are presented to students,
• hunger awareness events take place, 
• emergency assistance grants are available to students, and
• a hunger task force is in place. 

The , located in the CHH in Old Main, is a resource available to all Concordia students, as many times as they may need it. Students are required to show their student ID and fill out a confidential intake form before entering. 

The food pantry shelves are regularly restocked to ensure they are meeting the needs of students. The Cobber Food Pantry is open from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Mondays and from 5-7 p.m. Thursdays.