Little pantry, big goals. Philip Weltner Library has started its own seed pantry with hopes that it will grow into a larger university-wide initiative. An idea sparked from having leftover seeds from a library-led gardening event in April of 2026, the Philip Weltner Library seed pantry was created by Library Assistant Kristie Gadson and alumna Heidi Ullman ’26 as a means to encourage students to practice sustainable self-sufficiency and to address the food insecurity that as many as 35% of students face on campus.  

Gadson and Ullman repurposed a little free library that hadn’t seen any circulation in the past few years. While the structure didn’t see much use as a little exchange for books, like a revitalized bloom breaking through the soil, it’s found new life as numerous seed packets now line its shelves and a fresh coat of black paint brings much-needed color to its four small wooden walls. With a renewed purpose, the pantry sits at a corner of the Library main desk for visibility and access. 

The motto of the Library’s seed pantry reads “Take a seed, grow a seed” inside the black box. Based on the model of mutual aid, the pantry is open to anyone—students, faculty, and staff alike—to give, take and grow as they please. From tomatoes to cantaloupe to cosmos and pansies, Philip Weltner Library’s seed pantry debuts with a variety of fruits, veggies, and an assortment of edible flowers.  

The hope with the pantry is that, come Fall 2026, there will be opportunities to partner with campus programs such as Petey’s Pantry to expand and better serve all of ���ϳԹ��� University. Until then, the Philip Weltner Library seed pantry is now open with the vision of sustainable food sources for the ���ϳԹ��� community. 

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Philip Weltner Library is partnering with Petey’s Pantry to offer free non-perishable food and self-care items to ���ϳԹ��� students in need. What started as an alternative means for students to pay off their overdue library fines has become a collaboration with the campus’s own donation-funded food pantry to help students address food injustice and fight food insecurity.

Petey’s Pantry began back in the Fall of 2021 as an initiative to assess food security on campus. A subcommittee of the Student Government Association found that roughly a third of ���ϳԹ��� students faced food insecurity. “Just because we are a private institution,” says Darmaris Ceron ’26, current President of Petey’s Pantry, “doesn’t mean [that] all students are financially well-off.” Seeking to combat this glaring statistic, the SGA subcommittee started Petey’s Pantry in order to help destigmatize food insecurity and to provide both a healthy and sustainable environment where all Petrels, regardless of income, receive the resources necessary to maintain a happy and healthy experience at ���ϳԹ���. Now Petey’s Pantry is a full-fledged food pantry that fulfills requests for any current student in need of assistance.

In April of 2025, Philip Weltner Library started accepting donations of non-perishable food cans as a form of payment for overdue library fees, seeking to help alleviate students’ financial burdens. Since the Library didn’t rely on overdue fees as a source of income, “It made more sense to redirect that money to something that directly impacts our students’ well-being,” said Olivia Chapman, Interim Technical Services Librarian. Thus, a donation plan was developed where each can that students donated would equal $4 that could be used toward any overdue fees they had incurred.

Despite Petey’s Pantry having a space in Lowry Hall for students to take home self-care items, and despite Philip Weltner Library giving their received donations to Petey’s Pantry, no formal partnership between the two organizations had been established. Members of the library staff regarded this disconnect as a missed opportunity, feeling that Philip Weltner Library could do more with both its space and donation policy to better support the mission of Petey’s Pantry on an ongoing basis. Library staff met with the board of Petey’s Pantry to discuss visions of how this partnership can help ���ϳԹ��� students in need gain access to fundamental resources to help them succeed. The resulting collaboration is a win-win situation where the Pantry would have an additional avenue of receiving donations, the Library would have an easier, more useful way for students to resolve their fines and students would have more options to both give and receive resources.

Moving forward into Fall 2026 and beyond, Philip Weltner Library will be officially partnering with Petey’s Pantry with the mission to provide ���ϳԹ��� students with free and equitable access food, resources and support. The Library is looking to update its donation policy to include personal care items, while the Pantry is looking to expand its services to include the storage and distribution of seeds as an additional way to fight food insecurity.

“Students shouldn’t have to worry about food,” said Ceron, “they should focus on having the best experience they can at ���ϳԹ���.”

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