Paw Pantry provides food, snacks for students in need
As students at Texas A&M University-Victoria settle into life on campus with the start of the fall semester, students also spent some time perusing shelves full of food, snacks and other essential items in the campus food pantry.
The Paw Pantry is a resource that provides A&M-Victoria and Victoria College students free food throughout the semester. The pantry is funded through donations and grants, and students can come by once a week to fill a bag with food and other items, including hygiene products.
“It’s incredible to be able to offer a resource like this on campus,” said Madison Rosalez, case manager and health educator in Student Services. “Students deal with so much stress throughout the semester. We don’t want one of those stressors to be a lack of food. If they don’t have the fuel they need to function, how can they do well in their classes? We’re grateful to the community for supporting this resource.”
During the 2025-2026 academic year, the Paw Pantry distributed more than 15,000 pounds of food, and during the first week of the 2026 fall semester alone, the pantry distributed almost 500 pounds of food to students, Rosalez said.
Lizzy Yonts, a freshman biology major from West Columbia, was amazed at the variety of food available in the pantry when she and her roommates visited during the first week of classes. She came to the university because she likes that it has a “small-town vibe,” but it is far enough away from her home to let her be independent.
“It’s really nice and very sweet that the university provides this for its students,” she said. “I recently went to Dollar General and spent $100, and I didn’t get as much as I was able to pick up here for free. It means a lot to know the university is putting so much into taking care of us as students.”
The university stocks the pantry with food and items purchased in bulk from Sam’s Club and H-E-B, Rosalez said. The university tries to balance its offerings to include snacks and nutritious meals, as well as items such as shampoo, conditioner, body wash, deodorant and other hygiene needs. Most of the food is nonperishable, but there is a small fridge that contains items such as yogurt, freezer meals and cheese sticks.
Jenna Ringgold, a freshman agribusiness major who is also from West Columbia, chose to come to A&M-Victoria when she heard that the university was part of The Texas A&M University System now. She hopes to open her own veterinary practice one day, and A&M-Victoria was the perfect place to start her college journey, she said.
When she and Yonts came to the Paw Pantry, she was grateful to see that the university was providing these kinds of resources for its students.
“The Paw Pantry is great for those who are living off a low income and can’t get food as easily as others,” she said. “Food is so expensive in this economy. It’s nice that students have access to a free resource.”
If you would like to make a difference for our students, please consider making a gift to the Paw Pantry by visiting https://tamuvalumni.org/donations/donate.asp?id=15826 or calling 361-570-4829.
Texas A&M University-Victoria, located in the heart of the Coastal Bend region since 1973 in Victoria, Texas, offers courses leading to more than 50 academic programs in the colleges of Business, Education & Health Professions, Liberal Arts & Social Sciences, and Natural & Applied Science. A&M-Victoria provides face-to-face classes at its Victoria campus, as well as online classes that students can take from anywhere. The university supports the American Association of State Colleges and Universities Opportunities for All initiative to increase awareness about state colleges and universities and the important role they have in providing a high-quality and accessible education to an increasingly diverse student population, as well as contributing to regional and state economic development.