Who We Are
UT Outpost is the free on-campus food pantry and career closet for all students currently enrolled at UT Austin. Emergencies and financial hardships affect students in and outside of class. UT Outpost is here to support students with healthy food and gently-used professional clothing
Food insecurity makes it hard for students to stay in class and succeed. A 2020 survey found that 42 percent of UT Austin students experienced food insecurity. The UT Outpost food pantry provides nutritious food for students so that they can focus on their education. UT Outpost also helps students identify and combat food insecurity on campus.
The UT Outpost career closet offers every Longhorn access to professional clothes for job fairs, internships, and interviews. Students can choose their own outfits from the career closet, including shoes and accessories, that are theirs to keep. Students are not asked for any financial information and the only requirement is that they are enrolled in at least one course.
What We’re Fundraising For
UT Outpost launched in May 2018 with the goal of ending food insecurity and reducing barriers to professional and academic success on campus. As we continue to grow, our goal now is to help fill in the gaps our services previously weren’t able to support.
This 40 Hours for The Forty Acres, we are fundraising to expand our food pantry to include personal care items. Beyond donated individual items, this support will allow UT Outpost to purchase a variety of products in bulk so that students can shop for the lotion, body wash, soap, razors, shampoo and conditioner that meet their needs, all in addition to the food support and professional clothing we already offer.
We are also fundraising to support new outreach and awareness initiatives to make as many students as possible aware of our services.
Your Impact
Your support will help UT Outpost supply a variety of personal care products so that students shopping with us can choose the items they want. Expanding the available personal care products in our food pantry to reflect the diverse needs of our student community is another way that we can tell our student shoppers that they belong here at UT.
Raising awareness about UT Outpost is important work being done by both student staff and volunteers. Donations made to the UT Outpost during 40 for Forty will also help expand outreach efforts across campus, so that all students are aware of this important resource available to them. This need can be highlighted in one student’s experience:
“This summer was extremely difficult financially, thus mentally and emotionally. The department of education had a weird policy that wouldn't allow me to receive proper financial aid resources, and my summer job didn't have nearly enough hours to cover all of my bills AND necessities such as food. Having food provided with the UT Outpost helped significantly with improving my health inside-and-out and I'm incredibly thankful for UT's resources. Having nutritious foods available also helped immensely as I'm working hard to have a healthy lifestyle as a busy student. I have even recommended this source of aid to many of my other friends, which is when I realized how little this resource is advertised. I hope the outreach expands so more students can eat properly and fully while chasing their academic dreams.”
