Announcing Lion’s Pantry Executive Board 2023-24 Open Positions

Blog, Lion's Pantry News, Uncategorized

Are you interested in holding a leadership role within The Lion’s Pantry, Penn State’s student-run food pantry that helps feed students with a valid PSU ID? 

The Lion’s Pantry is happy to announce open Executive Board positions for the upcoming (2023-24) academic year. We are looking for the following positions: Vice President, Treasurer, Secretary, Cub Pantry Coordinator, Facility Coordinator, Engagement Director and Outreach Director. Please see below for more information about these positions.

If interested in one of these positions, please fill out this application by noon (12 p.m. EST) on Tuesday, April 11. If selected to participate in an interview, you will receive an email from The Lion’s Pantry 2023-24 President Nick DiPierro at ngd5090@psu.edu. We look forward to receiving your application!

VICE PRESIDENT

Brief Description

The Vice President should have strong leadership skills, be able to work in teams and have good time management abilities. They lead executive meetings and assist other executive members with general tasks. The Vice President is also expected to create ideas, initiatives and strategies for the organization. As such, the Vice President should strive to be knowledgeable and comfortable with all aspects of the organization and show a degree of personal initiative. 

Responsibilities  

The Vice President is responsible for many tasks and should expect to dedicate no less than 7-9 hours to The Lion’s Pantry per week.

Responsibilities include — but are not limited to — the following: 

• Delegate mandatory officer trainings attendance at the beginning of each school year 

• • Certain executives would be suited to attend specific meetings 

• Help organize new member orientation 

• Attend executive meetings 

• • Lead meeting if President is absent 

• Provide updates and information to General Body.  

• • Meeting reminders, event updates, etc. 

• Assist President with overseeing executive member activities 

• • Ensure each member is completing required tasks 
  • Assist members when they need it 
  • Help members come up with new ideas 

• Be present at meetings with stakeholders, University staff/faculty, partners, etc. 
• Be willing to take lead on some events and project 
• Create, lead, and implement projects to better operations, outreach, advocacy, etc. 

TREASURER

Brief Description

The Treasurer oversees our ASA account and budget for the organization. They must record all financial transactions for the club. Potential candidates should be meticulous, organized and detail oriented. The Treasurer will be responsible with communicating at a minimum of a bi-weekly basis with the Advisor/Facility Coordinator to ensure purchasing, invoicing and operations are running smoothly.  

Responsibilities  

The Treasurer should expect to contribute no less than 5-7 hours to The Lion’s Pantry per week. Responsibilities include — but are not limited to — the following: 

• Attending mandatory officer training during the first week of the semester 
  • Note: Failure to do this will result in the suspension of the organization 

• Preparing the organization’s budget, presenting it to the executive team for approval, and ensuring that club activities adhere to the budget 
• Maintaining accurate financial records in conjunction with the Advisor.  
  • Records can be requested from ASA at their office in the HUB   

• Transacting business only through our ASA account 
  • Using purchase orders for organization needs 
    • Updating list of members able to use purchase orders to include the President, Vice President, and Treasurer  
  • Submitting receipts to ASA to refund members in the event any member uses personal funds for the organization 
    • This must be done in a timely manner 

• Providing at a minimum a bi-weekly finances update to the board at weekly meetings. The board will determine based on the current situation of the pantry how often these updates will be given and what materials should be included. These may include but are not limited to:  
  • Income, expenses, outstanding balances, etc.  
  • Any updates on check requests or purchase orders 
  • Budget information and discussion about any major spending/project budgets in consideration for the future 

• Strive to develop surface level skills with excel to be used in presentations, weekly budget updates, etc.  
• Attending executive and general body meetings 
• Assisting with organization events: annual food drives, any potential volunteer opportunities that arise, etc.  
  • Provide insight on how these events will impact the pantry (either negatively or positively).  

SECRETARY

Brief Description

The Secretary has the role of managing the Lion’s Pantry communications via email and organizing and documenting the functions of the Lion’s Pantry executive team. The secretary should be organized and able to work with a wide variety of individuals within and outside of the organization. This position is vital as it ensures that proper communication channels are maintained.  

Responsibilities  

The Secretary is responsible for a variety of tasks and should expect to dedicate no less than 3-5 hours to The Lion’s Pantry per week. Responsibilities include —but are not limited to — the following: 

• Organize weekly meetings by sending out invitations  
• Maintain correspondences via email 
• Monitor, filter, and send emails to specific individuals 
• Take notes during exec meetings, keep track of votes.  

• • Update board members with meeting notes and voting results.   

• Help create agendas 
• Help manage the Lion’s Pantry teams  

CUB PANTRY COORDINATOR 

Brief Description

Cub Pantries are partnerships with several offices, departments, and organizations both off and on the University Park Campus. The Cub Pantry Coordinator is responsible to maintain communications and operations within these spaces. They are also expected to brainstorm adaptations to Cub Pantries to best serve the clients of the Lion’s Pantry as well as aid the development of new and existing Cub Pantries. 

Responsibilities  

The Cub Pantry Coordinator should expect to contribute no less than 5-6 hours to the Lion’s Pantry per week. Responsibilities include, but are not limited to, the following: 

• Tracking donations received at each Cub Pantry 
• Coordinating with the Facility Coordinator to transfer supplies from the main facility to Cub Pantries and vice-versa 
• Delegating weekly tasks to managers/interns  
• Maintaining communications and respectful relations with each partnered space 
• Attending weekly executive board meetings 
  • Keeping the executive board updated on any developments with Cub Pantry 
• Meeting with existing and prospective Cub Pantry spaces 
• Working with the rest of the executive board to further the operations and services of the Pantry in the best interests of the clients 

The following three positions — Facility Coordinator, Engagement Director and Outreach Director — are exciting opportunities still under development within the Executive Board. 

FACILITY COORDINATOR 

Brief Description

The Facility Coordinator serves as a liaison for multiple members of the team and will work most directly with the Advisor, Pantry Manager. This role is currently under development and could include tasks such as managing and ordering inventory. Preparing reports for the Advisor and Exec Team and creating and maintaining a Pantry calendar. The individual filling this position will play an important part in identifying its responsibilities and relationship to the Pantry, Exec Team, and Club.

ENGAGEMENT DIRECTOR

Brief Description

The Engagement Director is tasked with directing and maintaining relations with the student population. They will also work closely with the other members of the exec board to support the Lion’s Pantry in its operations as a food pantry and as an organization. This position and the entailed responsibilities are still under development.

OUTREACH DIRECTOR

Brief Description

In this role, the Outreach Director would be the main point of contact for donor organizations, volunteer groups, and partnered organizations. They will also work closely with the other members of the Executive Board to support The Lion’s Pantry in its operations as a food pantry and as an organization. This is just a quick summarization of the position, as responsibilities will be updated over time.  

The Lion’s Pantry Announces Spring 2023 Operational Hours

Blog, Lion's Pantry News, Uncategorized

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.– The Lion’s Pantry, the official on-campus student food pantry at Penn State’s University Park campus, announces spring hours beginning Monday, January 23, 2023.

Spring open hours will be as follows throughout the semester:

• Monday from 10:30 a.m. – 5:30 p.m.
• Tuesday from 11:30 a.m. – 5:30 p.m.
• Wednesday from 9:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
• Thursday from 9:30 a.m. – 5:30 p.m.
• Friday, Saturday, Sunday – Closed

Hours may change based on campus closures or other extenuating circumstances, so please follow The Lion’s Pantry on social media for updates.

For students without a mode of transportation, the campus shuttle runs weekdays and drops students off on Big Hollow Rd near the Pantry’s facilities.

Created in 2014 to address food insecurity within the Penn State community, The Lion’s Pantry is both student-created and student-led. The Lion’s Pantry serves every student with a valid Penn State ID with free food and household supplies — no questions asked.

The Lion’s Pantry accepts monetary and physical donations from the Penn State community to stock its shelves with desired unexpired, unopened and non-perishable food and household products.

Physical donations can be delivered to the Pantry on Fridays between 12-3 p.m., Sundays between 10 a.m. – 1 p.m. and by appointment. Regular open hours are reserved for guests due to the high demand for our resources.

The Lion’s Pantry updates an Amazon Wishlist with needed items throughout the semester.

Financial gifts can be mailed to the following address:

The Lion’s Pantry, c/o Heide Gibson

222V Boucke Building

University Park, PA 16802

Individuals interested in volunteering with The Lion’s Pantry can participate in Sunday Workdays from 10 a.m. – 1 p.m. during the semester to help organize products and prepare operations for the upcoming week.

In addition to the Pantry’s main location off Big Hollow Rd, Cub Pantries are located across Penn State’s campus to ensure food is readily accessible to students. Cub Pantries serve as Lion’s Pantry partners across Penn State’s campus to ensure food is more accessible to students.

Students can access Cub Pantries at the following locations during the spring semester:

• Student Disability Resources, 101 Boucke
• Center for Gender and Sexual Diversity, Lower Level, 0011 HUB
• Student Veteran Center, 146 Ritenour
• Student Care and Advocacy, 222 Boucke
• Pasquerilla Spiritual Center, Lobby
• Intramural Building (IM) 20, Wellness Suite
• EMS (Earth and Mineral Sciences) Library, 105 Deike
• Pattee Library, Room W-212
• Gender Equity Center, 222U Boucke
• Physical and Mathematical Sciences Library, 201 Davey Laboratory
• University Health Services (UHS), Student Health Center

Open hours at each Cub Pantry location depend on the respective facilities.

The Lion’s Pantry team is excited to continue feeding their fellow lions, providing resources for those in need and spreading awareness about food insecurity.

Please contact thelionspantry@psu.edu with questions about spring operations.