A member of the MTSU Board of Trustees has given students a big boost without even casting one vote.

Tom Boyd’s generous donation of 2,000 pounds of crackers, granola bars and peanut butter to the Student Food Pantry helped replenish depleted inventories, according to Danielle Rochelle, coordinator of outreach and support. 

MTSU Trustee Tom Boyd, right, joins Benny Nolen, director of the Joseph’s Storehouse nonprofit organization of Lebanon, Tennessee, beside containers of food donated to the MTSU Student Food Pantry in the MT One Stop. (MTSU photo by Andy Heidt).

“Because this donation was so significant, it also allowed us to make granola bars available in other student affairs areas such as the Center for Student Involvement and Leadership and the Charlie and Hazel Daniels Veterans and Military Family Center,” Rochelle said.

Danielle Rochelle web

Boyd didn’t know about the Student Food Pantry until reading about it in a magazine, leading to his donation drop-off earlier this semester.

“I was pleased and excited to know we help students in that manner,” Boyd said.

In addition to being a trustee, Boyd is on the board of Joseph’s Storehouse, a nonprofit, ministry-driven food bank that serves Wilson and surrounding counties in Tennessee. Through Boyd, the pantry now has a partnership with the Lebanon, Tennessee-based charity.

“It feeds several hundred families every month and provides food following natural disasters,” Boyd said.

The Student Food Pantry is located on the second floor of the MT One Stop on campus. Since its inception in fall 2012, it has collected more than 144,895 pounds of food. It has been visited more than 7,138 times by MTSU students.

In addition to donations of nonperishable food items, the pantry accepts and distributes personal hygiene products, cleaning supplies, laundry detergent, condiments and can openers.

For more information about the Student Food Pantry, contact Rochelle at danielle.rochelle@mtsu.edu or call 615-898-2808. To learn more about Joseph’s Storehouse, go to www.loaejosephsstorehouse.org.

— Gina K. Logue (gina.logue@mtsu.edu)

Danny Nolen, left, director of the Joseph’s Storehouse food ministry of Lebanon, Tennessee, stands with MTSU Trustee Tom Boyd in front of a truck which delivered 2,000 pounds of food to the MTSU Student Food Pantry. (MTSU photo by Andy Heidt)