OC garden provides fresh produce to students in need with local pantry

ODESSA, Texas (KMID/KPEJ) - Odessa College hosted a tour of the Atmos Energy Pantry Garden Thursday morning.

Located at Odessa College's Saulsbury Campus Center, the garden provides fresh food for the Wrangler Pantry, which in turn provides healthy meals for OC students.

The garden has been around since 2021, starting as a way to ensure that the pantry could offer fresh fruits and veggies to hungry students.

"So everyone loves walking by the garden, we try to keep it beautiful with flowers and as well as the vegetables. Our students have been really receptive and excited to get the items in the pantry, they also have told us what they'd like to see grow, so we've pivoted and done some things, we have some students that actually use a lot of the produce because our international students aren't used to our American canned goods, and so they tell us what they do to create their dishes, and we try to meet them by trying to get the ingredients they need seasonally," said Student Support Services Director Kristi Clemmer.

The Wrangler Pantry is also a way to ensure students in need always have a nutritious meal. The Pantry is at the OC Spur Building and is open from 2:30pm to 5:30pm every Wednesday during the summer.