HawkHub: Meeting the Basic Needs of the SJU Community

By: Rachel Piazza

HawkHUB is the first resource center here at St. Joe’s. We are a network of students,
staff, and faculty addressing food insecurity at SJU. Our goal is for everyone in the St. Joe’s
community to have their basic needs met and their dignity validated.

You do not need an appointment at HawkHUB. Feel free to just walk in and shop for
food and personal products. Food items that we regularly have in stock are soups, canned
beans/vegetables/fruit, pasta, peanut butter and jelly, rice, cereal, bars, snacks, and more. We also
have personal products like tampons and pads, laundry detergent pods, toothbrushes/toothpaste,
deodorant, soap, shampoo/conditioner, and some school supplies.

I was able to interview another HawkHUB E-board member Mallory Skinner, who is a
junior criminal justice major and co-treasurer of HawkHub. Mallory recommends that “Students
should feel comfortable coming to HawkHUB and taking advantage of the resources we have
available because it is open to all students, staff, and faculty. It’s a no judgment zone and open
for anyone to use.”
We are located on Hawk Hill’s Merion Hall Writing Center 162 Monday-Thursday from
10am-5pm and Fridays from 10am-2pm. Our new UCity location is located in Alumni Hall 108
Monday to Thursday from 11am-4pm, Fridays from 11am–2pm, and Sundays from 5-9pm. Keep
an eye out for a new, third location coming soon in the Post Learning Commons in the Drexel
Library on Hawk Hill, a project myself and another student are currently working on.
HawkHUB strives to care for the whole person. Mallory suggests that caring for the
whole person means “Understanding where someone is coming from and why they may be
experiencing a certain situation, and being able to empathize with them… but also not coming
from a place of judgment.”

We also provide the option of online ordering, where you can request what you need on
an online form and pick up your assigned bag outside of the Writing Center. Your name will not
be on the bag, but rather be tagged with a number.
HawkHUB has certain characteristics that set it apart from other resource centers. It is
student-run and not funded by the school. We run on donations and community partners. Mallory
says that this system of financing “brings not only the St. Joe’s community together but also the
surrounding community like our community partners, Penn Baptist Church and Trader Joe’s and
other organizations like that. It’s great to see all of these organizations coming together.”

HawkHUB is also working on two other projects: the Career Closet and Operation
Tampon. The Career Closet, located in the Women’s Center, holds professional attire that you
can wear for interviews, networking events, and other professional events. Operation Tampon is
a special project under HawkHUB with the goal of stocking women’s and gender-neutral
bathrooms across campus with free pads and tampons.
Mallory expresses how being an E-board member of HawkHUB is “very special to me
because everyone involved is very passionate about the subject and cares about what we’re
working towards.”

If you want to donate non-perishable food items or personal products, please drop off
your donation in the bin outside the Writing Center.

Order online using this link:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfAmClYMF07klnoQYPdTL8oFIIe0ZEfHYd9Tgxt
6qVLhdpdXg/viewform?fbzx=1606457466153691085
Basic needs assistance form: https://forms.sju.edu/studentsuccess/view.php?id=72894