Washburn University has a great support system on campus for students, staff and faculty. Bods Feeding Bods is Washburn’s food pantry located in Kuehne Hall 101. People don’t have to be low-income to utilize the resources at the pantry. All they need to do is show their Washburn ID and they can have access.
“One of our biggest goals is now that students are back on campus more regularly, we can really ramp up promoting it again… to actually know that it is available and know that it is available to anyone regardless of financial, social or citizenship status,” said Kristine Hart, associate director for Learning in the Community at Washburn University.
The whole campus has supported the pantry in many ways. During the spring of 2020, the Ichabod Shop donated food and beverages that would have gone to waste while the shop was closed. In the fall of 2020, they offered discounts and a drop-off location to help support WSGA’s Can COVID food drive.
“We have supported Bods Feeding Bods for many years. We had success when we did the Heart & Soul Food Drive in February 2019 and helped them celebrate the opening of a new location,” said Adrianne Johnson, merchandise manager of the Ichabod Shop.
As the Ichabod Shop was planning their spring events, they reached out to Bods Feeding Bods in January to see what was needed for the pantry this spring. They provided a list of items that would be helpful for those in the Washburn community.
“We worked with our vendors to provide items at a low price and offer discounts to customers who donated either by purchasing from the Ichabod Shop or providing donations,” Johnson said.
Bods Feeding Bods takes donations to allow an open shopping system for Washburn students, staff, and faculty.
“I think that there is a lot of misinformation that people have to be low-income and food-insecure to use this pantry and so hopefully we can make it more accessible in that way for people. It really is a confidential service and also one that is open to everybody,” Hart said.
Washburn also partners with the local Harvesters food drive to help support the community.
“Everything in here is free. If someone is living off-campus with possibly their mother and sibling, they can take enough food for all three of them, because if that student is going hungry, the people in their house don’t have enough to eat either. Think about how that distracts you from the learning process and doing well in college,” Hart said. “There is a local food drive going in Washburn’s Ichabod Shop. Anyone can donate items.”
Overall, the Bods Feeding Bods food pantry has been a success and continues to provide an abundance to those who need it most.
“We feel that the community response has been positive, and we have had quite a few donations this week. We hope that over the next week we will continue to see donations for Bods Feeding Bods,” Johnson said.

Edited by Glorianna Noland, Justin Shepard and Ellie Walker