Spartanburg Community College Expands Chaser’s Pantry and Student Support Services with $50,000 Eaton Corporation Grant

Spartanburg Community College Expands Chaser’s Pantry and Student Support Services with $50,000 Eaton Corporation Grant

Spartanburg, S.C. — Spartanburg Community College (SCC) is proud to announce that funding from Eaton Corporation will significantly expand the reach of Chaser’s Pantry and enhance essential student support services across multiple SCC campuses.

Since 2019, Chaser’s Pantry has been serving students on the Spartanburg (Giles) Campus, with an additional location opened at the Cherokee County Campus in January 2025. With the support of Eaton Corporation, SCC will broaden food pantry access to three additional locations—Union County, Tyger River, and Downtown (Evans) campuses—ensuring more students have access to nutritious food and basic essentials.

“We are grateful for Eaton’s investment, which strengthens our community and opens doors for student success,” said Dr. Michael Mikota, President of Spartanburg Community College. “Through this collaboration, Eaton and Spartanburg Community College are working together to remove barriers and ensure that every student has the resources they need to thrive.”

The $50,000 in grant funds will be used to purchase equipment, shelving, and food stock for each expanded location, as well as to support a new part-time pantry assistant dedicated to Chaser’s Pantry at the Spartanburg (Giles) Campus. This new role will help manage daily operations, maintain inventory levels, assist visitors, and keep the pantry environment organized and welcoming. By adding this position, SCC’s current pantry manager will have the capacity to oversee operations and strategic growth at all new satellite locations.

In addition to expanding food access, the grant will strengthen wraparound services that address students’ broader basic needs. These services will provide emergency assistance such as bus passes and hygiene kits; supplies for “Cooking up Confidence” classes that teach students to cook with whole foods; and life-enhancing workshops focused on financial literacy, peer mentoring, and wellness. The grant also supports Chaser’s Giving Tree—SCC’s signature annual event that provides holiday meals, decorated Christmas trees, and personalized gifts to the children of 50 parenting students with limited resources.

“Eaton is honored to help support the important work done by the SCC team to help hunger-at-risk students so they can concentrate on their studies,” said Jackie Pride, Communications & Engagement Manager for Eaton. “We look forward to hiring Spartanburg Community College graduates, participating in specialized training opportunities for Eaton employees, exploring new apprenticeship offerings and providing informational sessions to students.”

To ensure the initiative meets its goals, SCC will track key metrics such as the number of students served, visits to pantry locations, items distributed, participation in workshops, utilization of emergency resources, and qualitative student feedback to continually improve programming.

While the College will implement grant objectives within the first year of funding, the impact of Eaton Corporation’s support will last far beyond that timeline. SCC plans to sustain and grow Chaser’s Pantry operations through continued partnerships with local businesses, churches, and community organizations.