POCATELLO — Students, staff and faculty on the Idaho State University campus will be well fed over the next few weeks thanks to a generous 530 pound donation of beef.

The recent food donation to ISU’s Benny’s pantry is thanks to a collaborative effort between Power County 4-H and local internet service provider Direct Communications.

According to Benny’s Pantry manager Rachel Nielsen, over 200 patrons have already been served in the first week of the semester.

“This meat is going to go a long way helping them and into giving them a high quality product,” Nielsen said.

The meat itself was from a cow raised by a child in the Power County 4-H program. Direct Communications then purchased the animal and donated 530 pounds of ground beef to Benny’s Pantry, which it received early Friday afternoon.

“I was very happy to be a part of it, very happy to join in,” said Timothy May, President and CEO of Direct Communications. “We’ve been buying animals at the Power County 4-H for a while but a lot of times we just sell the meat back. This has been a good opportunity to be able to give that meat and let it carry forward to college students here at ISU.”

May believes the 500 pound donation could become an annual event for Direct Communications and the Power County 4-H to give back to the students and provide them with the nutrition they need. With school starting once again, students will assuredly be grateful for quality, locally sourced meat and other food items provided by the pantry.

“ISU has been really great as a partner to come to us and say, ‘How can we make this better for our students?’ ‘How can we make this better for the community?’” May said. “That’s something where if the opportunity comes up, we’re happy to help out wherever we can.”

Benny’s Pantry services all the students, staff and faculty on the ISU campus and provides supplementary essentials for anyone with a Bengal ID, completely free of charge.

“We don’t income qualify,” Nielsen said. “You get to shop once a week. We’re supplemental groceries. We can’t cover your whole grocery bill but we can help with a little bit. You can come back week after week and we always have different items that are donated or that we get from other places. We try to provide the absolute staples and those staples are different if you’re in a dorm room versus if you have an apartment where you can cook.”

Benny’s Pantry provides a variety of foods that include items like pasta and pasta sauce, peanut butter and jelly, bread and pastries from places like Fred Meyer or Smith’s and basic hygiene essentials.

As long as items are fresh or sealed, Benny’s Pantry accepts most food and essentials for anyone interested in making an altruistic donation to a good cause.

“We also take fresh produce,” Nielsen said. “If you’re growing a garden right now, that’s a pretty big thing that (many) people have. We also take hygiene items, as long as they’re unopened. We take almost anything.”

In speaking with everyone involved in the recent donation, there seems to be a sense of community, appreciation and excitement for something that could grow into an annual event for Benny’s Pantry.

“We are so excited and thrilled to be a part of this collaboration and we are hopeful that it can happen every year,” Nielsen said. “We love the pantry because it helps give people an opportunity to succeed. If you’re worried about where you’re going to eat or what you’re going to eat, then you’re not doing well in school, or you’re having a harder time.”

She continued, “We really want people to be able to come here and know that they have help when they need it and be able to get back on their feet to do their very best for a better future.”