Bods Feeding Bods is Washburn University’s food and commodities pantry. Established in 2014, BFB provides free food, hygiene items, school supplies and kitchen equipment for any member of the Washburn University and Washburn University Institute of Technology community. In 2022, we distributed over 15,000 pounds of food and commodities to about 440 community members and their families. Our mission is to ensure no one goes hungry at Washburn.
Your gift on Day of Giving will support several initiatives at the pantry including:
- Currently, most of the items we distribute come through our partnership with Harvesters, the regional food bank in Kansas and Missouri. While these items are terrific, they are not necessarily the items in highest demand by our community. We often struggle to stock fresh items in the pantry like bread, dairy products, cooking oil and fresh produce. We also want to expand the diversity of our food items to include soy sauce, rice and tea to meet the needs of our diverse community.
- In 2022 we launched the BFB Outpost Program which saw the creation of smaller pantries in two additional buildings on campus: Henderson and Morgan Hall. Students can take and eat items in these outposts immediately such as instant ramen, soups, fruit cups and granola bars. These items are in high demand but often in low supply.
- Finally, we plan to launch a free lunch program soon consisting of lunch bags with a main course, vegetable and fruit sides, snack and water bottle. As above, these are items we cannot typically get from Harvesters.
Your gifts allow us to purchase items such as those above at wholesale cost through the Harvesters’ co-operative purchasing program and from other retailers at bulk discounts. This ensures we have the items community members need at the lowest possible cost.
Thank you so much for considering donating to Bods Feeding Bods. Together, we can ensure no one at Washburn goes hungry.
