Amendola Student Cupboard helps students get food and find community

Many Fresno State students use The Amendola Student Cupboard. It serves as a food resource, but it also helps students develop a sense of community.

Peace Kapalo is a student assistant at the Cupboard. Before working there, he used it himself.

“The people here are always so welcoming, always so accommodating and would make sure what’s available for me to take and what I couldn’t take, of course, was to follow the rules,” Kapalo said. “But more importantly, they’ll say it in a tone that encourages me to return.”

The cupboard continues to receive deliveries and donations while also paying the bills. Michael Ballin, the Food Security Project coordinator, takes on this role while continuing to manage a growing team of student assistants, interns, and volunteers. He said student assistants are a big help in training newcomers.

“As new folks come in, or interns or volunteers, it’s really not hard to kind of, I guess, integrate people into the simple system of stocking and cleaning and helping to unload,” Ballin said.

Ballin and his staff are stocking shelves with snacks, drinks, and shelf-stable items. The cupboard is open Monday through Friday. The Student Cupboard has no plans of slowing down, with future expansion across campus planned through the use of vending machines.