BARNEY'S PANTRY SOLANA SONNIER: Fueling MHCC Students for Success

At Mt. Hood Community College, a small room filled with shelves of food and care helps students meet one of life’s most basic needs.

Known as Barney’s Pantry, it’s a place where no student is turned away, and no one has to face hunger alone. Making sure every visitor feels welcome, Pantry clerk Solana Sonnier helps to keep the space running with empathy and dedication.

“When a student comes to the Pantry for the first time, all they need to bring is a physical copy of their student ID,” Sonnier explains.

“They grab a red shopping basket and look around for the items they may need. Some items are limited, indicated by numbers hung in front of them, but other items such as produce are unlimited, and students are welcome to take as much as they like,” she said. “When they’re finished, they present their ID, and we sign them out.

“Students are welcome to come once a week to the Pantry.”

Promoting awareness and education is also part of the pantry’s mission. Sonnier said the staff have done some smaller events to try to promote awareness for Barney’s Pantry.

“We’ve done ‘Meals Matter’ demonstrations where either the Pantry director or a chef would come in and show how to make nutritional and full meals using the items we currently have, so people know how to prepare the food,” she said. “We’ve also hosted events involving agriculture, such as a seed swap, where people could bring seed packets from home and get new ones to grow their own gardens. We also do plant giveaways where we give away herbs or starter plants for people to grow at home.”

Demand for essentials is always high, Sonnier noted. When supplies arrive, the first items to go “are definitely the dairy products, like eggs and milk,” she said. “Maybe even quicker than that, we run out of meats, such as chicken or ground beef. Those are gone almost as soon as we open.

“We try to limit items as much as possible so that as many people needing the resources can get what they need, but there are so many people who come in. A lot of times when people come in later in the afternoon, there’s nothing left.”

For Sonnier, the Pantry’s mission extends far beyond food; it’s about care and dignity.

“We try to make it as welcoming of an environment as possible,” she said. “Our mission is simple: No student at Mt. Hood Community College should be going hungry. In a time where groceries, rent, and the necessities to live are so difficult to afford, even when people are working hard, nobody should ever feel ashamed for wanting a little bit of extra assistance.”

The priority is made clear as soon as students enter the Pantry space.

“Right when you walk in, there are immediately a bunch of resources (identified) that offer different food banks in the area, other free resources you can find here [at MHCC], and recipes that help you develop the food you get into nutritional meals,” Sonnier said.

“If people are maybe embarrassed about asking, they’re free to just grab a flier and get all that information themselves, without having to have a conversation they’re uncomfortable with. We also make sure to greet everyone with a friendly face and ask if they need assistance so they know they’re welcome,” she said.

The Pantry often provides other necessities beyond food.

“Sometimes, other than food, we offer take-home COVID tests,” Sonnier said. “We sometimes offer feminine hygiene products, such as pads or tampons. We also sometimes receive donations of items like soap, shampoo, and toothbrushes and toothpaste. Those essential services are a little bit harder to come by, but we offer them whenever we can.”

In every visit, every greeting, and every shared meal, the Pantry fulfills its guiding purpose.

“Essentially, the mission of Barney’s Pantry is to make it so no [Mt. Hood] student feels like they won’t have something to eat that night,” Sonnier said. “Ultimately, the goal is to support our immediate community so that students can get the nourishment they need to learn the best they can.”