Joe Gutierrez Office of Strategic Communication (909) 537-5007 joeg@csusb.edu
The Den Food Pantry, which helps Cal State San Bernardino students in need with food and supplies, will take on a new look and new name – the Obershaw DEN Food Pantry – at a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Thursday, Sept. 28, thanks to the generosity of Charles and Shelby Obershaw.
The ceremony, set for 10 a.m. in the courtyard of the Faculty Office Building, will celebrate the newly renamed and remodeled Obershaw DEN Food Pantry, and to recognize the Obershaws, long-time friends and donors of the university.
Along with the gift to the food pantry, the Obershaws’ gift earlier this year will create the Charles and Shelby Obershaw Endowment for Student Success, a fund that will support the social and academic success of students in CSUSB’s Educational Opportunity Program (EOP), Renaissance Scholar program and the Entrepreneurship program in the Jack H. Brown College of Business and Public Administration.
The newly designed Obershaw DEN Food Pantry added a refrigerator unit, which will allow the DEN to store fresh food and vegetables, and a freezer chest for meats and other foods, said Bryant Fairley, associate director of the Office of Community Engagement, which oversees the food pantry.
The Obershaw DEN Food Pantry addresses one of higher education’s most pressing issues, hunger and homelessness. The university has launched the innovative campus food bank where hungry students can come by and get something to eat before or after classes. More than 1,000 students were supported in its first full year, with donations coming primarily from faculty and staff, as well as community friends. In addition, the program directly assists students who have emergency housing needs.
For more information on Cal State San Bernardino, contact the university’s Office of Strategic Communication at (909) 537-5007.