NC State Wins Fourth Annual Pantry Bowl

Two days after freshman quarterback CJ Bailey and wide receiver Noah Rogers gave the NC State football team a fourth straight win over archrival UNC-Chapel Hill, the Wolfpack secured an impactful victory off the field. 

For the third straight year, NC State took home a victory in the Pantry Bowl, an annual fundraising competition between NC State’s Feed the Pack Food Pantry and UNC’s Carolina Cupboard. 

The fourth annual Pantry Bowl saw the two schools combine for 2,367 total gifts and $179,744. NC State raised $94,042 through 1,520 gifts from 1,405 unique donors. 

“The Pantry Bowl is Feed the Pack’s largest fundraising event every year,” said Pack Essentials Program Director Stevie Kimmet. “So we’re obviously very grateful for how much we’ve gotten. This shows that we have such a wide base of support from all over the community. We’re very excited about that.”

This year, NC State raised nearly double the total gifts as UNC. 

However, unlike the rivalry on the gridiron, the Pantry Bowl is a contest where everyone wins. 

“I’m glad to see support for both pantries and that communities across the Triangle are coming together to support food insecurity, but it’s fun to see a Wolfpack win, too,” Kimmet said. 

Feed the Pack helps meet the food needs of all members of the NC State community with dignity and respect.

Located in the Pack Essentials Hub in North Residence Hall on Hillsborough Street, the pantry has several refrigeration units, shelves of fresh produce and other options for patrons to choose from, offering a positive shopping experience for patrons. 

The Pantry Bowl, centered around one of the biggest athletic contests of the year for NC State, stands as the top way to raise awareness about Feed the Pack and its mission for members of the Wolfpack community. 

“That’s what I really like about the Pantry Bowl,” Kimmet said. “It brings together different groups of people who might not necessarily know about the pantry or food insecurity on campus. We see a lot of support coming from different groups of people who we might not be reaching otherwise.” 

Kimmet said that the $94,042 will fund Feed the Pack’s food purchasing budget. Much of the dry/nonperishable food items the pantry receives come from donations, so the bulk of that money will go towards purchasing the fresh, healthy food the pantry prides itself on. 

“I think a lot of folks would be surprised to know that in the last several years, we’ve more or less tripled our food spending, just to meet the increased demand from students and our NC State community,” Kimmet said. “So when we think about how we’re going to be able to meet students, faculty and staff where they are and provide enough resources and food to function as that supplemental resource space, this money is everything we need for the next year to continue purchasing food every week.” 

Although the final buzzer sounded on this year’s competition, NC State students, staff, faculty, alums and the community can support Feed the Pack year-round. Learn how you can help by visiting feedthepack.dasa.ncsu.edu.

This post was originally published in DASA.