Mo’s Cupboard is a food and resource pantry designed to reduce financial barriers to student success. Located in the Priscilla Payne Hurd Academic Complex, the pantry provides fresh and shelf-stable foods, toiletries, cleaning supplies, and other living essentials to university, graduate, and seminary students and faculty and staff in need.
Aiden Clare ’27 volunteers with Mo’s Cupboard. He stocks shelves and as a student, provides a critical perspective to the Mo’s Cupboard team, keeping them updated on what his fellow students need most and what the pantry is missing. Aiden says Mo’s Cupboard has helped him in the past. Seeing the impact first-hand made him want to support the program and help other students.
“Contributing to Mo’s makes me feel more in tune with the community. Mo’s has a request form that allows us to know what students might be looking for that we could possibly supply, so getting to see that, I really get a sense of gratitude toward Mo’s as a whole,” Aiden says.
In-Chi Chow-Rivera, the executive administrative assistant for student life, plays an integral role with Mo’s Cupboard. She researches local resources and coordinates partnerships with businesses and groups for donations, like Giant and Second Harvest Food Bank of the Lehigh Valley and Northeast Pennsylvania. She also handles donation drop-offs and pick-ups, shelf restocking, and other requirements to keep things functioning smoothly.
According to In-Chi, the pantry started in 2018 when Moravian recognized food insecurity was an obstacle for undergraduate students. During its first year, Mo’s Cupboard helped 22 individuals. Since then, it has served over 1,000 members of the Moravian community and opened two satellite locations—one on South Campus and the other in the Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation Center—to meet increasing demand.
Once the new Haupert Union Building is complete, Mo’s Cupboard will be relocated and occupy a footprint six times its original size. It will also have dedicated storage space where volunteers can sort donations.
