Campus Cupboard: Free Food and Hygiene Items on Campus

The Campus Cupboard provides Normandale students with free food and hygiene items. 

  • Summer Location: Office for Students with Disabilities (L 2750)
  • Summer Hours:  Monday-Thursday 8 am-5 pm and Fridays 8 am-12 pm
  • Fall location is to be determined
  • Fall hours:  Monday-Thursday 8:30 am-5 pm and Fri. 8:30 am-12 pm
  • Students can come once per day and get up to 2 grocery bags of non-perishable food and hygiene items

What happens when you visit the Campus Cupboard:

  • A staff person will ask for your student ID number. 
  • We will ask you to use hand sanitizer.
  • You will then select your food and personal hygiene items yourself. 
  • We provide paper grocery bags for your use. 
  • Our space is setup to maintain social distancing.  Staff is regularly sanitizing the space.  Everyone's safety is our top priority.

If you have questions please contact Paige Wheeler, paige.wheeler@normandale.edu, (952) 358-9074. 

Additional Resources:

Please review the additional food and basic needs resources below.  If you need additional assistance please contact paige.wheeler@normandale.edu, (952) 358-9074.  

Normandale Student Resource Center

Find Food Resources Near You

  • Use the Hunger Solutions website to find food resources near you. 
  • Map of emergency food distribution and donation sites in the Twin Cities. 
  • Call the MN Food Helpline: 888-711-1151 from 8-4:30 Monday-Friday.

SNAP (Food Stamps)

  • Cash assistance for food. 
  • Apply here: www.applymn.dhs.mn.gov.
  • If you need help figuring out if you qualify and applying to SNAP you can contact Community Action Partnership's Terry Hassan (THasssan@capagency.org) or contact Second Harvest Heartland here.

Emergency Grants
Food Delivery:

NEW:  We are offering the option to get food and hygiene items delivered from the Campus Cupboard for students who cannot make it to campus and are living within 15 miles of Normandale.  Our ability to deliver food is limited so please only use this option if you absolutely cannot come to campus.  This may be a temporary option, dependent upon us having staff who can do the deliveries.  Details:

  • You must be living within 15 miles of Normandale.
  • Students can request a delivery maximum once per week.  Each delivery can include up to 2 bags of non-perishable food (food that does not have to be refrigerated) and personal hygiene items from the Campus Cupboard.
  • Students will receive a sampling of what we have available. 
  • Request a food delivery through this form.  After you submit the form Paige Wheeler will follow up to coordinate a drop off day and time.

Donating to the Campus Cupboard:

The Campus Cupboard is funded by campus and community donors, as well as our nonprofit partner Good in the 'Hood.  As of May 2020 we have seen a 48% increase in the number of students using the Campus Cupboard compared to last year.  Your support allows us to support these students.

We are accepting donations of non-perishable food and personal hygiene items.  List of suggested donations.  Normandale employees and students can drop off donations in L 2750.  All other visitors should drop off donations by going in the College Services main entry (seen on this map); leave the donations with the Public Safety Officer at the front desk.  If you have a large donation you may contact Paige Wheeler by email or call (952) 358-9074 to arrange an assisted drop off time. 

In practicing social distancing people may consider instead donating to the Campus Cupboard via credit card online​; select "Other" and put the Campus Cupboard in the Notes.  Normandale employees have the option to setup an ongoing donation via payroll deduction; contact alan.cole@normandale.edu if you're interested. All donations qualify for a tax deduction.  Save all receipts of any purchases and share with alan.cole@normandale.edu​. 

Why is the Campus Cupboard Needed?

About one third of Normandale students are "food insecure," which means you don't have a limited or uncertain availability of sufficient food (2018 #RealCollege Survey by the Hope Center for College, Community, and Justice at Temple University).  You can find out about the impact of the Campus Cupboard from our 2019-2020 End of Year Report. 

Partnership:

Our community partner Good in the 'Hood is a nonprofit designed to use focused acts of kindness as a means of transforming individual lives, families and communities. We appreciate their major support of the Campus Cupboard.  Please visit the Good in the Hood website.

For More Information:

If you have any questions please contact Paige Wheeler at (952) 358-9074 or at paige.wheeler@normandale.edu

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Hunger Free Campus logo

Learn more about the Hunger Free Campus designation here.