Last Spring semester, the Hunter College NYC Food Policy Center and Share Meals debuted two self-service vending machines, one shelf-stable and one refrigerated, to distribute meals to Hunter students in need at the Silberman School of Social Work in East Harlem, free of charge. Each week, students answered a brief survey regarding their food security levels and were given points that they could then spend on shelf-stable items or prepared meals, and produce from one of the vending machines.
The program was an undeniable success, with more than a thousand distributions throughout the Spring 2024 semester.
This past January, the NYC Food Policy Center and Share Meals were thrilled to bring the program back, now operating as Pantry Link. We are happy to report that, nearing the end of the Spring 2025 semester, we have enjoyed yet more success with our two machines.
In addition to serving prepared sandwiches and salads courtesy of our neighbors at e.terra community kitchen, as well as boxed, upcycled soups from Matriark Foods, we have established a partnership with Sharing Excess to provide fresh produce to our refrigerated machine every week. In addition, Rethink Foods has also graciously donated shipments of Kind protein bars that are currently available in our shelf-stable machine.
So far, in the twelfth week of the Spring 2025 semester, our Pantry Link machines have facilitated nearly 2,000 distributions to hundreds of students on the Silberman campus. With four more weeks left, we’re looking forward to closing the semester at a benchmark that has already exceeded last year’s distributions.
Beyond the accomplishments of Spring 2024 and Spring 2025, the NYC Food Policy Center and Share Meals are excited by the potential for our work to be replicated on other campuses, in college dormitories, or indeed any space that can house a vending machine.
Be sure to stay tuned for a final report on Pantry Link at the end of May!
