Food pantry receives $1.5 million endowment to help combat food insecurity

Chapman announced the Chase family’s $1.5 million endowment to Chapman’s food pantry, the Panther Pantry, on March 31 to help expand the space and offer more necessary groceries and goods to all students who need them. Photo by Nathaniel Rudolph

A $1.5 million donation will fund Chapman University’s food pantry for years to come.

Food insecurity is defined as one’s “inability to have two meals a day and have access to healthy food.” Due to the rise in food insecurity among college students, Chapman’s food pantry on campus — the Panther Pantry — is hoping to combat just that.

The Panther Pantry recently received a $1.5 million endowment on March 31 from Irv and Nancy Chase and Sandy Fainbarg, donors and friends of the university, in order to provide further food options and services for students on-campus who face food insecurity.

Orange County locals Irv and Nancy Chase have been working with university staff and trustees ever since 2005. They created a professorship in 2011, a position at Chapman that teaches people more about the history of Judaism and what the Jewish people went through during the Holocaust. From that moment on, their connection with the university has only gotten stronger.

“(Donating to the Panther Pantry) is one of the things we’ve done that we’re most proud of,” Irv Chase said at the March 31 celebration. “When I first got involved at Chapman, and I discovered that 84% of its students were getting some form of aid to come to this school, it dawned on me how important scholarships were and how important gifts like this were. Being able to recognize that and having the means to give back, it means you have an obligation to do something.”

Chapman currently has two food pantries operating to support students experiencing food insecurity — one pantry at the Orange Campus and another at the Rinker Campus. 

Both food pantries are available to students who fill out the Orange or Rinker pantry access form, and they are open 24/7 for students to come and go as they please. 

The Rinker pantry is located on the first floor of the Rinker Health Science Campus Administrative Building, while the Orange pantry is located in North Morlan Hall after undergoing an expansion in Sept. 2022 to accommodate more students and provide more food and hygiene products at the pantry. 

The $1.5 million gift to endow the Panther Pantry will ensure that any current or future Chapman student will be able to focus on their education and not have to worry about where their next meal is going to come from.

“I was extremely excited to hear of the endowment. I couldn't believe the amount that was given, and I was honestly so grateful for the generosity,” said Annessa Garcia, Morlan Hall’s resident director and Panther Pantry coordinator. “It made my heart happy to know that there are others out there that want to fight against food insecurity here at Chapman.”

While no plans for the Panther Pantry are currently set in stone, in regards to spending the endowment money, some possibilities that have been discussed among pantry staff included expanding fresh and refrigerated foods, healthy food options for students and adding in more basic health care essentials. 

Upgrading and expanding existing infrastructure like the pantry’s shelves and refrigerator units has also been discussed as another possibility for the endowment funds to go toward.

“I want to thank the generosity of our donors because without (this donation), we would not be able to personalize our food pantry to meet every single dietary restriction that we have within our students from vegan (and) vegetarian to ethnic foods,” said Garcia, who has been working with the food pantry since July 2019. “As we know, food is expensive, so being able to provide that to our students is amazing.”

This endowment to Chapman and the Panther Pantry was also announced as the third gift part of Inspire: The Campaign for Chapman University — Chapman’s current comprehensive campaign to raise $500 million by 2028 and increase the university’s endowment to $2 billion by 2037. The Inspire campaign was originally announced on Feb. 10 at the 2023 State of the University address. 

So far, the campaign has already raised over $320 million out of $500 million in just its first few months of operation.

“(This endowment) was one of my proudest professional days,” said Matt Parlow, Chapman’s executive vice president and chief advancement officer. “We, of course, appreciate and celebrate all gifts to Chapman. This one was particularly special because it provides critical healthy food options for our students that face food insecurity. To be able to help secure an endowment that will provide dedicated funding in perpetuity for the Panther Pantry — to provide essential resources for our students most in need — that meant a lot to me.”
Parlow said he is grateful for the gratuity of donors so far, and he is hopeful that the university will achieve their goal of $500 million in no time.

“We do get contributions to the food pantry; these are important and meaningful each year, as it allows us to provide this critical resource to our students in need. But we have never received this level of gift for the food pantry,” Parlow said. “In fact, we are one of the few universities in the country to have an endowment for its food pantry. It's a really special thing to have dedicated funding in perpetuity for this key resource for students.”

The celebration for the $1.5 million endowment took place in Argyros Forum and included many speakers who expressed their gratuity to the Fainberg and Chase families. The celebration also highlighted the importance of the food pantry on both the Rinker and Orange campuses, respectively.

“The pantry is crucial; it’s not an extra thing,” President Daniele Struppa said at the celebration. “It is not something that is kind of nice to have. It is really central to the success of our students.”

According to the Chase family, they hope this endowment to Chapman’s food pantry will help to alleviate students’ worries regarding where they will find their next meal.

“(Nancy and I) wouldn’t be doing these things if it hadn’t been for my mother and father, who are gone in blessed memory, and Sandy and Allan, my late father-in-law,” Irv Chase told The Panther. “They taught us what it was to be charitable, to be kind, to do the things you can do and you can afford to do. When you come from that background, and you understand that not everyone has everything they need, you develop a sense of having to do good with what you’ve been given.”