Pioneer Pantry empowers Sigma Pi brothers to fight food insecurity
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Written by: Jared Wright - 7/31/21
Pioneer Provisions is a food pantry located on the UW-Platteville campus. It is managed by Pioneer Pantry, a student organization led by Sigma Pi brother, Philip Steinkopf, and other members of the Greek community. The goal of Pioneer Provisions is to reduce food insecurity among undergraduate students year-round, and to ensure equitable opportunities for students outside of the classroom. Students have access to basic hygiene products and food, allowing them to focus more on their coursework. The popularity of Pioneer Provisions has grown since being established in spring 2017. In spring 2021, most of the students who visited Pioneer Provisions were seniors, at about 37%, and juniors, at 24%. 62% of the students who utilize Pioneer Provisions lived off-campus. Roughly 80 – 120 students stop by Pioneer Provisions during their operating hours every week.
There are many different types of items available for students at Pioneer Provisions. Non-perishable foods, hygiene toiletries, and an array of cooler and freezer items including meat, fresh produce, and bakery items line the shelves. Proteins, such as beans, tuna, and peanut butter, as well as grains, like pasta, rice, and cereal, or canned fruits and vegetables, including peas, corn, carrots, peaches, pears, and pineapples are the most sought after foods along with shampoo, conditioner, soap, toothpaste, and feminine hygiene products.
Brothers of Sigma Pi have been volunteering for the pantry and have served on the pantry’s executive board since 2017. In rotating shifts, brothers and other students have staffed shifts at the west end of Glenview Commons by checking in students who would like to use the pantry’s services. Brothers like Philip Steinkopf and Alex Vidales - both members of the Delta-Delta pledge class - routinely manage the amount of food and other items placed on the pantry’s shelves and ensure that students obtain what they need.
Stephanie Young, the UW-Platteville campus dietician and advisor to Pioneer Pantry, also helps to manage Pioneer Provisions alongside the Sigma Pi volunteers. “Students deserve equitable opportunities to be successful in and out of the classroom. By providing basic needs like food and hygiene items, Pioneer Provisions helps empower students to do just that”, Stephanie Young said.
In the spring of 2018, Sigma Pi entered in and won the “Food Wars” donation drive hosted by Pioneer Pantry. The chapter donated the most food out of all participating student and Greek organizations. All the food donated would later be circulated through Pioneer Pantry to benefit the UW-Platteville student community.
Later, in the fall of 2019, Sigma Pi brothers including brother Steinkopf participated in a “sleep-out” in the middle of campus to highlight food insecurity on college campuses. In the bitter cold, many of the students involved slept in tents and some in cardboard boxes to show solidarity.
Pioneer Provisions has been an immensely successful program at UW-Platteville. In spring 2021, the pantry moved to a new location within Glenview Commons, where there’s more space to accommodate a larger influx of goods. The success of Pioneer Provisions would not have been possible without the many generous donations, large and small, along with the many volunteers from student organizations and Greek chapters including Sigma Pi.
Check out brothers Steinkopf and Vidales in the Pioneer Day of giving 2020 promotional video which highlighted Pioneer Provisions as one of the many organizations to donate to: