Goshen College Student Life started placing purple boxes in prominent places around campus in late October 2024, with the hope to improve accessibility of the college’s food pantry. Dash’s Mobile Cache is an extension of Dash’s Cache, a food pantry and free store for students located in the Student Life suite on the first floor of Wyse Hall.

There are nine mobile caches around the GC campus, including in Newcomer, Romero Apartments and the Connector, which are the most frequented according to Patty Hartshorn, director of health and wellness and Title IX coordinator. “We want to help normalize the fact that everybody needs help sometimes and that there is no shame in asking for that help,” Hartshorn said, “but also that it doesn’t always have to be an ask.”

The initiative to provide food security to GC students originally started over two years ago led by Luna Campos, the former coordinator of student life services. After several iterations, the food pantry fell under Hartshorn’s jurisdiction when she stepped into her role for the 2024-2025 school year.

One of the first things Hartshorn noticed was that the food pantry was not very accessible as it was in a closet towards the back of the Commuter Lounge. “It makes physical barriers,” she said. “You have to get a hold of somebody who has run it or has a key — Then you’re talking about contacting [Campus] Safety or a resident director or myself in order to get access, which can be uncomfortable.”

Hartshorn said Dash’s Mobile Cache was created to bring the food out from behind the locked door. The name “Dash’s Cache” is inspired by GC’s black squirrel mascot Dash. “Caches” are where squirrels store their excess nuts to make sure there is enough for later, especially during harsh weather. “Dash’s cache is really an opportunity to say we have this set aside for you to access if you need it,” Hartshorn said.

The pantry is mostly supplied through a partnership with Milford Food Bank. Hartshorn said this partnership has allowed them to circulate more food, which has reduced food expiration, and provide students with more ready-to-eat or quick-to-make foods that they are more likely to take. She estimates that they have moved over 2,000 pounds of food through the mobile cache.

Related to Dash’s Cache is the free store in the Student Life suite that holds all of the non-food items. While some donations come from Milford Food Bank, there are also donations from GC faculty and staff. The current stock at the free store includes deodorant, sunscreen, feminine hygiene products, contraceptives, leave-in hair conditioner, blankets and more, as well as a supply of winter hats, coats and gloves. “The goal is to just make sure that people have what they need,” said Hartshorn.

Javier Reyes, a sophomore nursing major and president of the Student Senate, said that Student Senate reached out to Hartshorn at the beginning of the year to figure out how the food pantry could be improved to cover the needs of more students. Since then, the Student Senate has contributed to the expansion and increased student involvement in Dash’s Cache.

Reyes said, “[This is a benefit] because it boosts our ability to focus on our classwork without having to worry … what we’re going to have on our plate to eat for the day.”

Gilberto Pérez Jr., vice president of student life, Hispanic serving initiatives and dean of students, has also supported Hartshorn in growing Dash’s Cache. Pérez Jr. said that Leslie Ortega ’24, who was a public health major, did a survey last year which found that residential students talk more about food insecurity than commuter students. With that in mind, he said that this initiative aims to provide food for students who may not have enough, whatever their circumstances.

In the future, Hartshorn hopes to find a permanent location for Dash’s Cache with the ability to add refrigeration for frozen meals or fresh produce. She also talked about being able to build on opportunities for students to connect with federal funding such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which students are eligible for.

Pérez Jr. has a proposal for how students can have fun with Dash’s Mobile Cache: “You invite six seven, eight people — and before you cook, you send them out to go find what’s at the Dash’s Cache and then you come back and you set it on the table and say, ‘This is what we got to eat. Let’s see what we cook,’ and then people cook together, and they have fellowship.”