Feed-A-Bull, USF’s food pantry, has opened a new location at the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine (MDC) building in an attempt to reach more students. 

Since the opening of Feed-A-Bull, the pantry has seen an increase in student demand and a need for more space to accommodate its food, according to Donovan Uhnavy, Feed-A-Bull coordinator. This need led to the opening of the USF Health location on May 29. 

“We had such exponential growth since we started in 2015 that there was a need for a second location,” Uhnavy said. 

Related: Feed-a-Bull pantry sees increasing demand from past years

This past spring semester, the pantry gave out 18,326 pounds of food at their current location in the basement of the Student Services Building (SVC), he said. Between 200 and 250 students visit Feed-A-Bull a week during the semester. 

The original Feed-A-Bull is already in a central area with a lot of foot traffic, so it will stay as the main location, Uhnavy said. The new space will serve as a secondary location, and while it is open to all students, it will mainly focus on reaching USF Health students.

The new location was done in collaboration with USF Health Shared Services, which looks to optimize student success and promote USF Health, according to its mission statement.

What is new at this location?

The renovations to the new room have increased the amount of space for food products. 

The bigger space will allow Feed-A-Bull to host more things like food demonstrations and events such as coffee hour and drinks and desserts. 

“I’ve done cooking demos in [the SVC] and I always feel like I’m going to set something on fire… because there’s not… [good ventilation],” Uhnavy joked.  

The new pantry will work very similarly to the original. Students will be filling out the same surveys as before, showing their USF ID to sign in, and weighing food at the end. 

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The biggest difference between the two locations will be the lack of limitation signs, which tell students how much of each product they are allowed to get at the original location. 

Rather than having the signs taped on each section, students who visit the new location will get a checklist to record how many of each product they picked up. 

The food will still be obtained from the same distributors, Feeding Tampa Bay and Publix on campus. 

Related: OPINION: Feed-A-Bull is apparently not Fund-A-Bull

Where is it located?

The new Feed-A-Bull is located on 12901 Bruce B. Downs Blvd. in the MDC building, room 1050. This is about two miles or a 22 minute walk from the SVC location. 

“If we could get 200-300 students per-week at that [USF Health] pantry, I would be ecstatic,” Uhnavy said. 

New posters and signs with QR codes will start rolling out later in the summer and closer to the start of the fall semester, with more information about the MDC Feed-A-Bull.

Related: Is USF affordable? Students say they can barely pay for food, housing 

Students are able to donate to Feed-A-Bull any time by dropping off food in the green bin at the main location.

As for volunteer opportunities, Feed-A-Bull is currently looking for volunteers over the summer. More information about fall semester volunteer opportunities will come out closer to the end of the summer.