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Aurea Osgood has been the Warrior Cupboard Coordinator for the last three years. Osgood runs the service in the IWC for students to find a way to fill the gap when dealing with the financial burden of grocery and food costs.
“I’ve been interested in food security for a long time and I do research in the area. But also, food insecurity is a social problem that can be solved and it can be solved fairly simply. We just haven’t done it,” Osgood said. “Campus food shelves [are] not going to solve the problem, either. It has to be bigger than campus by campus, but this is a really good supportive step. I see the impact for students, I get emails and I get notes sometimes saying how helpful this resource has been to students.”
With the help of the community and other venues, Osgood can easily access a wide range of foods for a low cost to buy for the students. She buys and then displays the food in the cupboard for students to scan in and grab what they need in a private area all for free.
“We get food from a couple different ways, like individual donations. I also buy groceries from grocery stores around town, I find the sales and stock up,” Osgood said, “Most recently, we’re using Channel One out of Rochester. That’s the Regional Food Bank, where I’m able to buy food for pennies on the dollar compared to a grocery store.”
She displays nutritional and hearty food in the cupboard to not only feed a student with healthy food, but to also keep them full for longer.
“One of the things that I’ve tried to do as I took over is thinking about what the students need to do to make healthy decisions in their eating. It’s easy to eat cheap and fast,” Osgood said. “I’ve tried to focus on more proteins and more fresh foods.”
Osgood comments that the cupboard has definitely grown to what it is now through the help and guidance from the Fondation fund, Student Senate, Karen Stoltz (basic needs coordinator on campus), Dean Johnson, as well as individual donors.
Osgood explains the story of how the Warrior Cupboard came to be in 2017.
“There was a group on campus that said, ‘Hey, we have a need, let’s deal with this need. What can we do to address this particular need for students?’,” Osgood said. “The group was able to secure this space that had been left vacant at the time, and started working with The Foundation and Student Senate.”
A WSU second year student who would like to remain anonymous has used the warrior cupboard and has seen the positive influence.
“Last year is when I used it most, personally at the time I had a stressful financial situation and struggled with other parts of my life at the time. The ability to not have to walk 45 minutes to main grocery markets was such a blessing,” The student said. “I didn’t have to worry about when or where my next meal would come from. Having it on campus made it easier and less stressful, I felt supported and I never felt judged going there.”
When requesting through warrior space, students don’t need to disclose any personal or financial information. This application on Warrior Space is more of an agree- ment to some basic guidelines including keeping the space clean and taking only what you need. For people who wish to donate food, they can email warriorcupboard@winona. Osgood notes monetary donations can go to The Foundation in their food pantry account.
“Our goal is not to be a student’s single source of groceries, we can’t afford to do that and we don’t have the space to do that for all of our students,” Osgood said. “We want to have in place systems and ser- vices across campus and the com- munity that get you the help you need to be self-sufficient.”
