UWEC CERCA 2026

Project Title: You are Not Alone: Evaluating Messages Designed to Increase Food Pantry Use among UWEC Students Students at UW-Eau Claire and nationwide experience food insecurity, and the campus food pantry remains underutilized due to barriers such as stigma, unclear understanding of who qualifies as "in need," and concerns about the quality and nutritional value of the available foods in the on-campus pantry (El Zein, et al., 2022). Our research seeks to identify which sample messages designed to overcome known barriers to student use of food pantries are most appealing to students at UWEC. We surveyed current UWEC students who are 18 years or older, asking them to identify preferred messages, message channels, and provide demographic information. Our findings should allow us to draw conclusions about what kind of message and communication channel respondents find most effective in terms of increasing student awareness and usage of the campus food pantry. This information will be useful in both choosing appropriate communication channels for student-facing messages about the food panty as well as for shaping content of these messages.