These three service organizations hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony and open house Tuesday to celebrate their new location on MU’s campus.
They now occupy a facility in the east entrance of the Hitt Street Parking Structure, across from Brookside on Elm Street. These organizations can now work to combat food insecurity, lack of proper clothing, and unsafe transportation more efficiently. Tiger Pantry and Truman’s Closet operated out of the same location this past year, but only with curbside pickup. Now, they will resume in-person services, as well as share an office space with STRIPES.
Brylee Duncan, director of Tiger Pantry and Truman’s Closet, expressed her gratitude and excitement for the many opportunities this new location holds.
“It was just so much farther away,” Duncan said. “Before, we were at Rock Quarry [Road] and that was not very safe for pedestrians or people riding bikes.”
The Hitt Street location is not only safer, it’s also more impactful. Duncan said that being on campus allows for more accessibility for students and faculty due to its convenient location.
Tiger Pantry and Truman’s Closet have received an overflow of clients due to the harsh environment of the pandemic. Duncan said that Tiger Pantry has experienced a rise in orders, but they are now becoming more consistent and manageable because of the storage provided in their significantly larger space.
Along with a return to in-person operations and a shift in locations, Tiger Pantry has also seen an uptick in MU faculty usage. Duncan said that staff used to make up a small percentage of the people Tiger Pantry serves, but that now that number is up by 30%.
Truman’s Closet is also helping to serve the MU community on a larger scale due to more storage space provided by this new facility.
“We have really been able to focus a lot more on Truman’s Closet than we had been able to in the first year,” Duncan said. “We have started getting more donations and it’s really started to kick off.”
STRIPES has also flourished in the new on-campus facility. STRIPES director Jack Lee said the new location has resulted in faster reaction times for students needing a ride.
“The other location was a little bit off-campus [on Rock Quarry Road], so now that we’re up here, we’ve already noticed that our response times to some of our most popular pick-up points have been a lot shorter,” Lee said.
Lee said that STRIPES’ new location has provided an even safer means of transportation for not only their clients, but also their volunteers.
Duncan said having Tiger Pantry, Truman’s Closet, and STRIPES on campus will help students and faculty access the resources they need to be successful.
“We’re really just hoping that we’ll be able to reach everyone that needs our services,” Duncan said. “Whether that’s just physically being closer in proximity or education, we just want to make sure that everyone who may need our services knows about us.”
Edited by Emmet Jamieson, ejamieson@themaneater.com
