Mt. Hood Community College’s Barney’s Food Pantry takes holistic approach to feeding students

Published 5:00 am Wednesday, January 29, 2025

A space at Mt. Hood Community College has been dedicated to not only feeding hungry students, but making folks from all walks of life more comfortable and excited about cooking.

On a cold day in East Multnomah County, Steven Herff led a demo on whipping up a delicious vat of vegan chili. It was part of the Meals Matter program, which operates out of the newly expanded Barney’s Food Pantry. All of the ingredients were sourced directly from the pantry, which continues to serve an astounding number of students each week.

“That chili was great for winter, just a hearty meal,” he said with a laugh.

That is just one component of the holistic approach being taken at Mt. Hood Community College. Barney’s Food Pantry doesn’t just want to fill hungry bellies and stock empty shelves, they want to foster a growing culture around food on campus.

“We get things done for our students,” Herff said.

Herff is the first pantry coordinator, a position funded at the behest of students. He comes to the role from a background in the culinary industry, working in and opening restaurants for most of his life.

But then he went back to school, earning an environmental science degree. That led to a year with AmeriCorps, where he worked at the learning garden on the Portland Community College campus and assisted at their student pantry.

“It really mirrored what I am now doing here,” he said.

The work at Barney’s Pantry isn’t much different from running those restaurants.

“Just take away the cooking, and the need to make money,” Herff said with a laugh.

Like many other pantries, there is no “one type” of client. All sorts of students use the pantry, a true cross-section of the campus. All a student needs is their ID card, and they are welcome to come weekly. For those who might need more assistance, Herff and his team can share information about other resources in the community, like SnowCap Community Charities.

“Those other organizations do a great job serving the community, so we will always direct folks where they can get more care and resources,” Herff said.

And what makes the pantry special is the student employees. Much like how Barney’s Pantry began thanks to students leaving cans of food for the peers, the ethos has continued to this day. The pantry employs 16 students.

“All of this was started by students for students, I’m just here to guide the ship,” Herff said.

Pantry staples

The bulk of the pantry staples come from the Oregon Food Bank.

“They are such a great partner for us, we couldn’t get a better price anywhere else,” Herff said.

Barney’s Food Pantry

Where: Mt. Hood Community College

Hours: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Mon.-Fri.

Online: mhcc.edu/student-resources/food-pantry

Email: Steven.Herff@mhcc.edu

Donate: a.co/5PkJtOb

But there are many other supporters, big and small. Amazon and Grocery Outlet donate many items, as does Walmart. There are also the community members who will swing by — often Herff will arrive at the pantry to find a few grocery bags of food had been dropped off.

“I don’t go a week without someone walking in with a donation bag,” Herff said.

“They see folks coming in here who are struggling while trying to get through college,” he said. “There has always been that direct connection to hungry college students prioritizing their education.”

“We want to break that myth of students living off ramen — no one should sacrifice for their education,” he added.

Across the food pantry world, the past decade has seen a push to move away from canned and processed foods, instead offering fruits and vegetables when possible.

One of those supporters is Dr. Lisa Skari, the president of the college. She has a large garden at home she loves tinkering with. A few years ago it was a deep-dive into carrots, cultivating different varieties to see what she enjoyed the most. That left nearly 100 pounds of carrots for the pantry. Last year it was tomatoes.

“We live on donations, it is a huge part of our business,” Herff said.

Feeding students

The numbers at Barney’s Food Pantry are jaw-dropping.

With the new space, a huge room in the back of the newly debuted Equity and Community Resource Center, the pantry is offering a more diverse mix of sustenance than ever before.

Before the pantry operated in a literal closet in the Student Union. There was no dedicated staff, instead other employees would carve out a bit of time each day to keep the few shelves stocked. That lack of shelves and equipment, like refrigerators and freezers, meant the pantry was forced to turn down donation opportunities.

When Herff first came onboard, he and another MHCC employee would use their personal cars to pick up donations. Then they began “stealing” a pickup truck from facilities. Finally the students approved the purchase of a box truck that is mainly used by the pantry.

“We go through some food — 3,000 to 5,000 pounds a week, and we are barely keeping up,” Herff said.

Since opening in the new location last fall, they have served 1,800 students at the pantry, which is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday-Friday. Every week breaks records for being the busiest. So far this month the pantry has picked up 15,000 pounds of supplies from the Oregon Food Bank.

On Monday, Jan. 27, the pantry served 112 students.

Herff wants to break through the mindset some students have that because some are worse off, they don’t feel comfortable going to the pantry.

“There is plenty of food,” he said. “No student who is hungry should leave it for others — come in, there is plenty.”

Barney’s Pantry operates on a “take what you need” basis, other than a few popular items that are hard to keep stocked — limits on boxes of mac and cheese, proteins.

Part of the battle is helping students become comfortable with the unfamiliar. Take spaghetti squash. The pantry has plenty of the delicious vegetable, but sometimes students shy away.

“If you have never seen or touched one, it can be intimidating,” Herff said. “We try to explain and help as much as possible.”

Near the entrance is a table with recipes and other instructional materials for that education component.

“We are at a college,” he said with a laugh.

There are plenty of exciting things brewing on campus. Herff also helms the learning garden, which has 9 raised beds on the eastside of campus. His goal is to make that garden more accessible, so it can be greater utilized.

He also has taken over the garden beds in the main center of campus, converting some to food production. He envisions students tending beds full of garlic, herbs, potatoes and more. All of it would stock the shelves of the pantry, with accompanying labels (again building off the education component baked into the whole campus).

In the pantry are a series of rosemary clippings, which he has coordinated with another department to have students craft clay pots. Those will hold the clippings, allowing the herbs to be given to students to care for at home.

He would like to stay open late once a week for the night students.

Herff also has dreams of opening up an affordable/free kitchen on campus, where students could get hands-on learning while offering nutritious meals to their peers.

“This place will always be a work in progress,” Herff said. “The new space wasn’t the end, but just the beginning of what we want to do.”