Central Connecticut’s food pantry, Maria’s Place, celebrated its second anniversary last Thursday highlighting the occasion with raffles, games and prizes.

In its new location in the lower level of the Robert Vance Academic Center, Maria’s Place provides aid to current CCSU faculty, staff and students in need of food assistance.

Maria’s Place is named after Maria A. Álvarez, who worked at CCSU for 32 years. The inspiration for the naming came from Alvarez’s charitable works both on- and off-campus, and the pantry in her honor works to support the CCSU community through a simple, confidential process.

“The way it works is that first-time visitors will come in and fill out a first-time waiver form [with] a bunch of demographic information, such as [whether you are] a full-time or part-time student, are you a commuter or resident – questions like those. But they’re not obligated to fill out every single one, as long as they feel comfortable sharing,” Freddy Rios, coordinator of Maria’s Place, said.

Visitors to Maria’s Place, he explained, simply “pick up a bag and go.”

“It’s 30 items on a daily basis. Within those 30 items, it includes ten food items, ten personal care items and ten of the school supplies” Rios said, furthering that Maria’s Place confidentiality extends to the items that visitors select. “They don’t have to show us what they take, that’s how confidential it is.”

Maria’s Place works with many other departments on campus as well.

“The pantry is incorporated into many different curriculums. The student clubs help with food drives. Academic departments also do food drives,” Rios said.

It is not just food and personal care items that are planned for Maria’s Place.  There are other projects to aid students in the works as well.  One [project] is critical to students who need help looking professional.

“A big project is to establish a professional closet where students can come in and grab professional attire like a tie or dress shirt or pants in case they need to go to an interview or a resource fair,” Rios stated.

Sodexo, CCSU’s food service, lends a hand to help Maria’s Place, too, with Rios explaining that it has donated food, provided grants and helps with funds and the budget.

“They’ve been very supportive,” he said.

Maria’s Place opened in the Spring 2017 semester and has been serving the CCSU community ever since.  Their support has benefitted a number of students, faculty and staff who are facing food insecurity. As Maria’s Place celebrates two years in operation, many more food pantries are expected to come with their noble mission of charity and basic human rights.

For more information about Maria’s Place contact Freddy Rios at [email protected].