Community Engagement Blog

How we do community engagement at Missouri State

3 Things I’ve Learned Through Being a Bear Pantry GA

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Hi, I’m Natalie, and I’ve worked at the Bear Pantry for the past nine months. I’m the one who’s written all these blogs you’ve been reading this past academic year. I’m also graduating this week (yay, go me!), and this is my last blog to write. So, I thought it was appropriate to share what I’ve learned. I could probably name a hundred, but for the sake of keeping it a readable blog, I’ve narrowed it down to three. 

Food pantries require adaptability. 

The Bear Pantry relies on food banks, donations, volunteers, and a million other tiny details to serve our members. If one of those variables falls short, we will find one way or another to make it work.  For example, Monday mornings are our days to unload, scan, and stock the 1200-pound orders from our local food bank (shoutout Ozarks Food Harvest!). It’s a hectic process yet operates like a well-oiled machine. But if no volunteers show up? Time to pivot! Our team prioritizes items to distribute and saves the rest for when we have more time.  

Being a donation-based service, some months we are way more stocked than others. During November (Homecoming Drive) and April (Greek Week’s food drive) we were distributing about 200% of our normal amount. With donations, we then get creative on how to backstock items to provide consistent distributions during the week. You gotta be adaptable! 

This resource is needed  

People have walked through the Bear Pantry’s doors over 11,000 times this past year…that’s like the whole town (Harrisonville, Nevada, or Poplar Bluff) coming to PSU 140.

I didn’t realize just how. Many. People. Use. The. Pantry. People have walked through the Bear Pantry’s doors over 11,000 times this past year. Let that sink in. If you know any of the Missouri towns Harrisonville, Nevada, or Poplar Bluff, that’s like the whole town coming to PSU 140. 

The Bear Pantry has a stellar team. 

We have workers who truly care about making the Bear Pantry more accessible, available, and dignified. Not only is the work culture supportive, positive, and fun-loving, so is our approach to members. The Bear Pantry team has its members on the forefront of our minds as we seek to improve our services. It’s a culture of innovation, and I’m excited to see where it goes from the other side (as an alumni x2). 

If you’ve read until here, wow. I’m glad you did. I hope you’ve gained a new appreciation for this campus resource! I will miss working for the Bear Pantry!

Get involved here!

Delta Dental Continues Support of the Bear Pantry

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Delta Dental helped meet basic needs for members of the Bear Pantry in March of 2026 by providing 375 oral health products. These are tools needed to accomplish our first task of the mornings: brushing our teeth.

Delta Dental’s generous in-kind donation to the MSU Foundation allowed the Bear Pantry to supply 175 households with a complete set of toothbrushes, toothpastes, and flossers. Accompanying the supplies was a flier providing “5 Tips for Healthy Teeth.”

Flier displayed actionable tips for oral health along with hygiene items.

What stands out about this donation is how it ties to food insecurity. Often, those experiencing high levels of food insecurity have less access to dental care. Instead of worrying about a perfect 45-degree angle when brushing those shiny whites, many people just want the option to brush. By supplying oral hygiene kits to the Bear Pantry, Delta Dental is helping members have access to essential personal care items.

All items were distributed within a day, highlighting the donation’s impact. “At the Bear Pantry, we know that student success is deeply connected to overall health,” said Alex Johnson, Director of the Center for Community Engagement. “Thanks to Delta Dental, our members now have access to vital oral care resources—helping remove barriers so they can focus on their education and future.”

The Bear Pantry strives to eliminate food insecurity and increase access to basic needs for Missouri State students, faculty, and staff. They provide nutritious food, personal care items, and school supplies at no cost. Driven by donations, the Bear Pantry is furthering its mission through Delta Dental’s hygiene-focused gift.

We look forward to a continued partnership with Delta Dental.

Donate to the Bear Pantry

Fun-to-Knows with the Bear Pantry

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We are officially past the halfway point of the semester! As we head into Spring Break, here are some updates and fun-to-knows about your university’s food pantry.

Pantry Updates

Last semester, we received a grant from Swipe Out Hunger, the nation’s largest non-profit organization to support university food pantries, allowing us to purchase an additional refrigeration unit for the Bear Pantry! It is housed in the backroom and has been used to store cold overstock items like eggs and bakery items. The new fridge will support additional food to restock the main fridges throughout the week, allowing us to serve over 350 people weekly.

Fun Facts

Now for some interesting facts and tidbits about the Bear Pantry!

Bear Pantry’s Beginnings and Milestones
  • The Bear pantry was founded in 2019 as a continuation of a project Alex Johnson, Director of the CCE, was working on with a graduate student. Since its conception, the Bear Pantry has seen steady growth. We now distribute over seven times the amount of food and have almost four times the number of members as our first year!
  • We obtain our food through several ways. Ozarks Food Harvest is our main food supplier, and we use donated money to purchase food items. We also partner with Campus Gardens; they donate fresh produce during growing seasons. Donations also drive our supply through drives, campus donation bins, and anonymous gifts through our Amazon Wishlist.
  • We receive grant funding through the Student Sustainability Fund which has supported a significant part of our operations.
Bear Pantry’s Longest Staff Member
  • Our longest staff member is our Area Manager, Reish Burnett, who has served with us for three years. His study in dietetics compliments his work at the Bear Pantry where he manages the hydroponics towers, emphasizes food safety, and focuses on nutritious food purchases for the Pantry. Reish graduates with his bachelor’s degree in Nutrition & Dietetics this May and will continue with his studies in the Accelerated Master’s in Nutrition & Dietetics.
Handy Hacks for Pantry Basics

Let us know which handy hack is your favorite!

  • Use instant potatoes instead of cream to thicken soups
  • Swap applesauce or yogurt for eggs in baked items – but swing by the Bear Pantry if you run out of eggs!
  • Rinse canned vegetables and beans to reduce the sodium level
  • Use powdered milk as protein powder (8 grams protein in a ¼ cup of powder)
  • Microwave thinly sliced zucchini or squash to make veggie chips
  • Use a mason jar ring to make perfectly round eggs on the stovetop
  • When opening a food can, poke holes in the bottom to remove the vacuum seal for the can to completely empty
  • Bake, instead of boil, whole eggs in the oven to make hard boiled eggs
  • Opening new jars – dent the edge of the lid with a butterknife handle to release some air to allow for seamless opening

Past/Upcoming events

  • MoState Ag students, faculty, staff, and friends helped drive food distribution over the weekend at their annual Darr Difference Day by filling 300 snack packs for the Bear Pantry! Swing by during open hours to grab one!
  • Teaching Kitchens – another event is coming up March 27th hosted by dietetics graduate Betsy Whitehurst! Register here.
  • Greek Week’s annual donation drive for the Bear Pantry is April 13-18th! Last year, philanthropies raised an incredible $60,000 worth of food and hygiene items that greatly supported our operations. Donated goods will be distributed throughout the following weeks.
  • If you’re having trouble finding time to visit us, remember the Pantry’s after-hours on Mondays from 5-7pm and Tuesdays from 5-5:30pm.

 

Teaching Kitchens Equip Bear Pantry Members with Cooking Skills

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Exciting things are stirring in the Foods Lab on the top floor of Kampeter.  

Interactive cooking classes, called “teaching kitchens” spark connections between peers and support cooking skills as dietetic graduate students lead hour-long sessions focusing on creating meals from the Bear Pantry. 

Titled “Foodie Fridays”, the idea for this class stemmed from a collaboration between the Bear Pantry and the dietetics department to focus on supporting UN Sustainable Development Goal #2: Zero Hunger. MSU students, faculty, and staff are receiving food from the Bear Pantry but may not know how to cook nutritious, balanced meals with the ingredients. As there was not a resource currently being offered, Stephanie Urich, Clinical Instructor for the School of Health Sciences, and Dr. Alex Johnson, Director of the Center for Community Engagement, decided to fill this gap.  

Over two separate sessions, Monse Velazquez, graduate student in the dietetics program, led fifty Bear Pantry members through the process of cooking a chicken pot pie and a chickpea curry…all from ingredients you can commonly find at food pantries.  

Monse was inspired to focus on canned goods. “Growing up in Paraguay, we didn’t have canned goods like we do here in the U.S… When I moved here, I realized canned goods were very affordable, but I didn’t know how to cook with them, and that was a challenge. Many Bear Pantry members are international students who face this same barrier. Having access to canned goods is helpful, but only if you know what to do with them. I wanted to fill that gap and make pantry foods feel approachable, familiar, and exciting,” notes Monse. 

“Having access to canned goods is helpful, but only if you know what to do with them. I wanted to fill that gap and make pantry foods feel approachable, familiar, and exciting” 

A blend of hands-on cooking experience and nutrition education made up the session. The participants were placed in groups and worked together to create the meal, then Monse led them through creating nutritious, balanced meals with ingredients on hand. 

“One thing I think is really special about this new project is the opportunity it brings our Nutrition & Dietetics students to get real-world, hands-on experience. We’re not just having fun and eating delicious food in the kitchen (although we are doing that!). We’re helping to build food literacy and improve health outcomes in our campus community,” Stephanie remarks. 

Dietetic graduate student Betsy Whitehurst will be continuing the monthly series starting next February. 

That’s not the only way teaching kitchens support the Bear Pantry. 

Dr. Daniela Novotny, Senior Instructor for the School of Health Sciences and her DTN 695 research class led two teaching kitchen sessions focusing on meals from the Bear Pantry in October. With an audience of first-generation college students through the Bears Lead group, the sessions focused on cooking basics, dorm cooking, and snack hacks. Power Bowls with Creamy Avocado Sauce, Bean & Veggie Quesadillas, and Microwave Peach Crisps were all on the menu. 

Being a research class, the group analyzed the data to find that the group felt more confident in the kitchen and built their nutrition knowledge on a statistically significant level.  

Teaching kitchens are showing great promise in supporting the Bear Pantry! 

How to Join Foodie Fridays 

  • You must be a Bear Pantry member to join.  
  • A sign-up form will be emailed to Bear Pantry members in advance. The form will also be posted in the Bear Pantry. 
  • Come and attend a fun cooking session!
  • Spots fill quickly so don’t miss out!  

Donations Drives Support the Bear Pantry This November

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Donation drives are making a major impact on the Bear Pantry this November. 

Two separate events brought in 482 pounds of food—totaling 728 individual items—to be distributed to Bear Pantry members, strengthening food security on campus. 

During Halloween, nutrition and music Bears joined forces in a neighborhood-wide effort to support their campus community. Members of Mu Phi Epsilon and the Student Dietetic Association (SDA) partnered to build a bridge between the Rountree neighborhood and Missouri State University. 

The week before Halloween, students went door to door informing residents about the donation drive, giving them time to gather items. On Halloween night, 25 students took to the streets, greeted by smiling faces and generous hands as dozens of Rountree residents contributed food to help fellow Bears.

Trick or Soup Donations

 

With the same spirit of generosity, the Laboratory Theatre Company (LTC) hosted a donation drive during their showing of Out!, written by MSU alum Arden Dickson. The production—focused on college student experiences—was paired with a meaningful opportunity to give back. For every performance, LTC partners with a local nonprofit to promote community engagement and social impact. 

LTC Donations

Together, these collaborative efforts resulted in nutritious food going into the hands of Bear Pantry members, reinforcing the ongoing commitment of Missouri State students to support one another through service and compassion. 

Want to make an impact too? The Office of Enrollment Management is hosting a campus-wide donation drive, “Bears Can-Do”, to support food security amidst the growing challenges individuals are facing. Check out their blog to get involved. 

The Bear Pantry extends heartfelt thanks to everyone who has donated. Your collaboration embodies what it means to be a Bear—supporting one another through action and compassion.