Planting Seeds for a Better MHCC: Barney’s Pantry

Barney’s Pantry is a resource that Mt. Hood has been offering for several years. Beyond individual food and personal hygiene items, it gives students the opportunity to receive a food box upon request.

But big changes with the Pantry soon should give students an even bigger opportunity to obtain the resources they need. And there is one man overseeing the entire expansion, Steve Herff.

Photo by Sabrina Kuhlmann

Throughout his life, Herff discovered his passion for helping others and distributing food boxes to those in need. Spending most of his career working as a chef, he decided to return to school and get a degree in environmental sciences. After COVID struck, he started working with AmeriCorps, and found that helping others was his passion.

Ultimately he was hired to begin at MHCC this Fall Term to manage Barney’s Pantry as it begins to expand – moving into the new Equity Center, where the campus bookstore once stood in the Main Mall of the campus.

“We have the groundwork laid up for this enormous space,” Herff said with excitement in his eyes. “That’s gonna include a little bit of a kitchenette, a storage space, an office space for me and a storage spot for electronic gear and things like that.”

The main idea is to transform the Pantry from a method of pre-ordering and allowing another person to build a box for individual users, to users being able to shop around the pantry themselves and choosing what they want or need.

“You’re going to get things that you want, things that you’re going to use, and there’s gonna be a lot less waste,” said Herff.

In addition to the Pantry changes, MHCC will also be welcoming the Barney’s Learning Garden. By Spring 2024, the Garden should be completed by the Fisheries Department (near the Stark Street entrance to Mt. Hood) and will be growing all sorts of crop for the Pantry. The campus community will be able to volunteer to tend to the garden during the year and see its shared hard work help those in need, come harvest time. Barney’s Pantry will need a lot of help from students during its expansion and Herff is currently seeking and accepting volunteers to pitch in. For more information about how to become a volunteer, please email Steve at [email protected] or visit him in the Student Union.

Photo by Kane Finders