One day Wichita State may have a food pantry to supply hungry students and staff members with food.

Until then, food collected at WSU will go to the Kansas Food Bank.

Pamela O’Neil, food drive coordinator for WSU Hunger Awareness, said the food put in the seven red containers spread out around campus for the past few weeks was taken to the food bank on Saturday.

“We may want to put a food pantry on campus,” she said. “It would be [for] the WSU community. What we’re finding out is food insecurity affects more than just students.”

O’Neil said the first step is finding out if a pantry is needed. The second is funding it and third is how to do it.

She said another obstacle is the construction of the Rhatigan Student Center, where a pantry might be located.

Michelle Dreiling, president of WSU Hunger Awareness, is optimistic about having a pantry at WSU.

“There are a lot of organizations that are dedicated to an on-campus food pantry,” she said. “It will happen. It’s just when and where.”

Until that day, O’Neil said WSU Hunger Awareness continues to collect food for the food bank and host events to raise awareness about and discuss issues regarding hunger that affects the community.

“I’ve talked to students who’ve skipped meals [because they] couldn’t get food,” she said.

Often it’s a matter of money.

“You can pay for books, rent or medical bills, and there’s sometimes no money for food. Sometimes [the reason people miss meals is] even time,” she said. “It’s poverty of time. You have to make money before you can eat decent.”

WSU Hunger Awareness held a Dinner & Conversation event Saturday to collect information about the reasons why people are not getting enough food or lacking nutritious food.

O’Neil said the goal of the recent food drive was 5,000 pounds of food. She said the exact weight of the food collected will not be known for a couple of days.

Dreiling said the food bank was chosen because it is the organization that works on more food drives than other organizations in the Wichita area and serves the most people.