These are food items donated to the Northern Michigan University Food Pantry courtesy of freshman Jacob McCann. McCann had leftover Dining Dollars, so he decided to put them toward procuring food for the pantry. (Photo courtesy of the NMU Food Pantry)

MARQUETTE — Given their sometimes precarious financial situations, college freshmen couldn’t be blamed for hoarding any extra money or resources they have on hand.

For Jacob McCann, a Northern Michigan University freshman from downstate Ludington, the decision came down to sharing his bounty: using his surplus Dining Dollars to benefit the NMU Food Pantry.

With the functions of a typical semester cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic, some adaptations had to be made. Some students left the residence halls to continue their distance learning elsewhere, while others lost employment.

Haley Rhoades, food pantry adviser, explained the situation.

“When students live on campus, they have a meal plan, and part of their meal plan are Dining Dollars, which is flexible money but can be spent at Starbucks, or Temaki and Tea or the store called Cat Trax where they can get cereal or milk or eggs or snacks,” Rhoades said in a telephone interview.

McCann, she noted, had more than he could use through the end of the semester.

That’s not always the case with NMU students.

“Some students spend all of their Dining Dollars in the first three weeks,” Rhoades said.

McCann reached out to the NMU Dining Services office, said Rhoades, who learned after communicating with McCann that he wanted to help students, the university or a food bank.

Rhoades had the idea to buy items such as granola bars, beef jerky, nuts and chips with his leftover Dining Dollars.

“I said, ‘Does this sound OK? Maybe we can having the Dining Services crew pull the items and have them delivered to the food pantry,'” she said. “And he was liking that idea because he wasn’t finding it to be very practical to go to Cat Trax himself and spend $300 of his money and then figure out a way to haul it over to the food pantry.”

Dining Services then pulled the items from the shelves or storage and delivered it to the food pantry, said Rhoades, who noted pantry food goes to NMU students.

“There are quite a few students still living either in their on-campus apartment or in their apartment in town,” Rhoades said. “They have a lease that goes until whatever date, so they’re staying here, or maybe they have a job in town, or Marquette has become where they live.”

For some students, they’ve experienced job loss, she said, or their employment has been reduced.

“We’re seeing about 60 students per week that are using the food pantry,” Rhoades said. “This additional donation will go a long way to help students.”

For McCann, who’s still living on campus, it partly was a practical decision.

“I just didn’t want the money to go to waste,” McCann said in an email. “I knew I wouldn’t be able to use it all before the end of the year and knew it wouldn’t carry over to next year. I had been told that I could use my money for the food pantry, but after realizing just how much money I had left over, I decided to get in contact with them directly.

“I understand that what I did was nice and thoughtful and I’m more than proud about what I did, but I just don’t know if it was that big of a deal. I would hope that plenty of other people would have had the same idea and done the same thing in my position.”

Summer pantry hours are 3 to 5 p.m. Wednesdays.

To donate to the food pantry, drop off donations at the NMU Police Department along Sugar Loaf Avenue, or visit connect.nmu.edu/givefoodpantry. Monetary donations can be made at https://foundation.nmu.edu.

Christie Mastric can be reached at cbleck@miningjournal.net.