Bear Necessities is a campus agency that supports students who are experiencing basic needs insecurities, including financial, food and housing needs. Bear Necessities operates the UM Food Pantry on the first floor of the University Center, along with other satellite locations. Bear Necessities offers walk-in hours and scheduled appointments for students to meet with outreach professionals to discuss resources and next steps to meet their needs.
Lucy Hicks, Program Coordinator for Bear Necessities, is happy to talk about the UM Food Pantry and Bear Necessities, including how to use its resources, its operating hours, and how you can help this vital agency on campus.
Scroll on to learn more about the UM Food Pantry and Bear Necessities at UM.
Meet Program Coordinator Lucy Hicks!
Lucy Hicks is a Program Coordinator for Bear Necessities. She works on case management in Bear Necessities as well as volunteer recruitment and management. She also manages the resource library outside the Bear Necessities office in the UC near the ASUM office. She is one of the employees who works during office hours in Eck, the Liberal Arts building.
Want to reach out to Lucy? Shoot her an email: lucy1.hicks@umontana.edu
What is the UM Food Pantry?
The main UM Food Pantry is on the southwest side of the first floor of the University Center, down the hallways adjacent to the ASUM offices. It’s a place where students, staff and faculty can pick up several types of food, from basic pantry items to soup, mac n cheese, produce, dairy and so much more. They also offer things like free hygiene products and winter clothes during the colder months.
The UM Food Pantry also offers a Grab N Go shelf outside the pantry accessible at all times, alongside five satellite locations*. These satellite pantries have smaller amounts of food and hygiene products, but are available 24/7.
UM Food Pantry Satellite Locations*
• TRIO Student Services at Aber Hall
• Office of American Indian Student Services
• Alexander Blewett III School of Law
• Missoula College – River Campus & West Campus
• Humanities and Sciences Building
The UM Food Pantry partners with the Missoula Food Bank & Community Center, the Montana Food Bank Network, the Missoula Chamber of Commerce and UM Peas Farm, and is also supported by individual donations from community members.
How does the UM Food Pantry Work?
The UM Food Pantry is open to students, faculty and staff of the university, and no one is required to demonstrate their need. The UM Food Pantry is a choice model pantry, where visitors come in and pick out what they need. Hicks describes that “you just come in, grab a bag, go, weigh it, and you’re out.”
Hicks continues to say, “as long as you can carry it without our help … go ahead, get five bags, if that’s what you need”. The Food Pantry also has ready-to-go meals like mac n cheese or bagels. Some of these meals are provided via excess from UM Catering, of which volunteers help repackage.
There is also a resource library outside the Bear Necessities office in the back hallway of the ASUM Office Suites. The resource library has socks, scarves, hats and hand warmers for colder weather. There’s also Narcan and Plan B available within the resource library. This area is always open and free for students or community members to use as needed.
What is Bear Necessities?
Bear Necessities is a campus agency that oversees the UM Food Pantry and provides student support in all kinds of different ways. This is primarily through meeting with students and connecting them to resources if they’re not sure where to get started. Students can come to Bear Necessities for issues like housing, financial and food needs, among other hardships.
Hicks mentioned working with students on “applications like SNAP, Medicaid … emergency fund applications, finding housing, [and] roommates”, all stem from the case management side of Bear Necessities. She likes to label Bear Necessities as “collaborative problem solving” and describes the three arms of service: Advocacy, Direct Care and Education.
When is the UM Food Pantry Open?
The UM Food Pantry is open:
• Monday and Wednesday from 10:30 am – 3 pm
• Tuesdays and Thursdays from 4 pm – 6 pm
• Saturdays from 11 am – 3 pm
The Food Pantry hours may vary throughout the year and are subject to change based on athletic and other campus events. The hours are staggered to accommodate all student schedules.
When is the Bear Necessities Open?
Bear Necessities is open 8 am – 4:15 pm Monday through Friday and is located at the University Center in Room 118. Forty-five-minute appointments can be scheduled through email or through Navigate.
For the best view of availability, log in to Navigate and schedule a "Hardships" appointment with any member of our team.
Walk-in hours are also available in the Liberal Arts Building in the 2nd floor study space, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Contact: Kat Cowley, Director, (406) 243-2017, Kat.Cowley@mso.umt.edu
How Can You Volunteer with the UM Food Pantry?
Anybody can volunteer at the UM Food Pantry on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 4pm – 6pm. Volunteers can sign up for however many days they want, whether that’s one day, one day a month, or more frequently. Volunteers help stock shelves and assist with load-ins from the Food Bank Network.
Tip: To volunteer, check out the linktree on the UM Food Pantry’s Instagram page to get started!
Volunteering is not a constant, demanding job and is an active way to get involved. Hicks says that they “always encourage them to bring some homework so they can still work on homework while they’re here and help with the stuff as it comes up.” Volunteering with the UM Food Pantry is open to both students and community members alike.
People are also needed to be food rescue volunteers. They help repackage food from UM Catering or Campus Dining and bring it to the Food Pantry to be available for students. These volunteers are more regularly scheduled, and they need to be Serve Safe certified since they’re handling food.
Tip: Email the UM Food Pantry with questions about volunteering: umpantry@mso.umt.edu
How Can I Donate to the Food Pantry?
Hicks says that “anybody can run a food drive or a donation drive,” and that this can be a way to get involved without committing a lot of time to the UM Food Pantry. Hicks mentioned students can set up boxes at their student-work position and have people donate food or hygiene products.
Alternatively, the UM Food Bank accepts non-perishable donations at any time in the drop box located at their main office in the UC. Monetary donations are also much needed and can be made online.
There is always a need for volunteers at UM Food Pantry Events. These events include Can the Cats, Stuff the Bus and game day food collection at Griz Football Games.
Can the Cats Annual Food Drive
Every year in November, UM Food Pantry collaborates with the Missoula Food Bank to host two weeks’ worth of events called Can the Cats. It’s one of the biggest food drives in the state and leads up to the annual Griz-Cat Football game, perhaps better known as the Brawl of the Wild.
These two weeks provide a friendly competition between the University of Montana and Montana State communities to see who can raise the most food. Everybody wins during this time of giving, with several events and food drives bringing in well over a million pounds of food donations across the state every year.
Madison Knapp is a student at the University of Montana, majoring in creative writing with a minor in French. She is an out-of-state student from Bellingham, Washington, and has thoroughly enjoyed her time at UM. She is also a DHC student and a proud member of the Grizzly Marching Band.
