SAN ANTONIO – Our Lady of the Lake University celebrated the opening of a new food pantry along with the 80th anniversary of the Worden School of Social Service on Thursday.
The new food pantry is led by the Worden School of Social Service and in partnership with the San Antonio Food Bank and is designed to address food insecurity at OLLU, according to a news release.
The food pantry will be supported by local food donations and the OLLU community garden with the goal of increasing access to a stable, healthy, no-cost food supply, including fresh produce, for all graduate and undergraduate students.
According to the school’s website, the food pantry will be managed by a licensed social worker who will train social work students on best practices for implementing the services that the pantry will provide.
“In a recent survey of OLLU undergraduate and graduate students, using the USDA’s Food Insecurity Scale, OLLU found that 28% of undergraduate students and 22% of graduate students experience low food security. Additionally, 34% of undergraduate students and 26% of graduate students identified themselves as having very low food security,” the website stated.
The university celebrated its opening on Thursday along with the Worden School’s 80th anniversary. State Senator Jose? Mene?ndez issued a proclamation and recognized the Worden School as the first School of Social Work in the Southwest.
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