Alum's Estate Gift Benefits Buckeye Food Alliance

August 4, 2023

“BFA has helped me focus on my academics instead of wondering if I will have to go to class hungry. I feel like Ohio State genuinely wants me to succeed in their community.”
--Student food pantry client

When the basic needs of students are not met, their grades and even their ability to stay in school are jeopardized. Few needs are more basic than knowing where your next meal will come from.

That simple fact is what makes a recent planned estate gift to Ohio State’s Buckeye Food Alliance Pantry so special. Kathryn McClusky, Class of 1971 and a Journalism major, bequeathed $500,000 to the Student Food Pantry Fund/Buckeye Food Alliance upon her death in October 2022.

Kathryn, active her whole life with fellow Ohio State alumni, was editor of the Lantern and went on to a long career in print journalism with Gannett. She was part of the formation team for USA Today.

Buckeye Food Alliance (BFA) Coordinator Nick Fowler is grateful for her generosity, calling it “an incredibly pleasant surprise.”

The gift comes at a crucial time. Fowler says BFA has gone from 500 visits a year in 2019 to more than 6,000 a year, currently.

The BFA pantry opened in 2016 and is operated by Student Life’s Student Wellness Center. It is available to all Ohio State students and distributes hundreds of pounds of food each week, including staples such as fresh produce, milk, eggs, meat, meat substitutes and personal care items. As a client choice food pantry, students can select their own foods, which allows them to better support their own nutritional needs.

“Your gift matters,” Fowler says when discussing the importance that donations have on BFA and their ability to get food to students in need. “We really want to make sure students’ basic needs are being met.”

Experiencing food insecurity can lead to barriers for students including, but not limited to, being distracted in class, lower grades, dropping a class or discontinuing one’s education entirely. Some studies have shown that student grade point averages and university retention may be improved if universities take steps to address food insecurity on their campuses.

Food insecurity can also put students more at risk for experiencing adverse mental health effects, obesity, diabetes and maladaptive eating patterns that persist well beyond their college experience.

“I am so thankful that BFA exists,” says one student in response to a survey about BFA services. “It's hard to support myself as a student and having the support from BFA takes so much stress off my shoulders each week to keep fresh groceries and dry goods in my kitchen! It helps me save money, time, and stress.” Another student said in the survey, “Honestly, it is a life saver, both physically nutritionally, and mentally.”

“To have a student share how much better you made their day,” says Fowler, is “a reminder of why … it’s worth it.”

Fowler says they haven’t decided how to use the generous bequest, but he has no shortage of ideas, including a physical expansion of the pantry, upgraded equipment for better food storage and increased educational outreach programming. “This will give us the flexibility to look to the future and truly meet students’ basic needs.”

In whatever ways Kathryn McClusky’s gift is used, it will make a huge difference in the lives of students at Ohio State.