GivingTuesday Matching Gift Supports WSU Vancouver Students Facing Food Insecurity (Photo) - 12/01/25
VANCOUVER, Wash. – Washington State University Vancouver is marking GivingTuesday with a $10,000 matching gift supporting students who face food insecurity through the Cougar Food Pantry. The match is made possible by Mark Brubaker and Kristina Lockwood, whose philanthropy has helped transform the pantry into a critical campus resource.
The campaign comes as basic needs insecurity draws statewide attention. Gov. Bob Ferguson recently proclaimed Post-Secondary Basic Needs Awareness Week in Washington, highlighting the growing number of college students struggling with access to food, housing and other essentials. Recent statewide surveys show that nearly half of Washington’s college students have difficulty meeting basic needs—a reality reflected on the WSU Vancouver campus. Student visits to the Cougar Food Pantry have increased nearly 18% in recent weeks.
When Brubaker and Lockwood moved from Los Angeles to Camas, they had no prior connection to WSU. After learning about the Cougar Food Pantry and the students who rely on it, they quickly found their place in the Cougar community.
What began as a small gift grew into a powerful partnership. Over the past three years, Brubaker and Lockwood have contributed $82,000 to strengthen the pantry, helping it evolve from a small, part-time operation into a resource that now serves hundreds of students with dignity, choice and consistent access to nutritious food. Their support helped fund the pantry’s expansion into a larger space and contributed to the hiring of WSU Vancouver’s full-time basic needs navigator.
“We’ve walked away every time knowing where the dollars were going—and that it made a difference,” Brubaker said.
“It’s hard enough to be a student,” Lockwood said. “Feeding yourself or your family shouldn’t be a concern.”
In response to the growing need, Brubaker and Lockwood have stepped forward again. Between now and GivingTuesday (Dec. 2), all gifts to the Cougar Food Pantry will be matched dollar for dollar, up to $10,000.
Community support helps ensure WSU Vancouver students can meet their basic needs, stay on track academically and build a foundation for future success.
Make a gift to the Cougar Food Pantry online or contact Grant Yenney at 360-546-9173 or grant.yenney@wsu.edu.
About WSU Vancouver
As one of six campuses of the WSU system, WSU Vancouver offers big-school resources in a small-school environment. The university provides affordable, high-quality baccalaureate- and graduate-level education to benefit the people and communities it serves. As the only four-year research university in Southwest Washington, WSU Vancouver helps drive economic growth through relationships with local businesses and industries, schools and nonprofit organizations.
WSU Vancouver is located on the homelands of the Cowlitz Indian Tribe and Peoples of the Lower Columbia Valley. We acknowledge their presence here. WSU Vancouver expresses its respect towards these original and current caretakers of the region. We pledge that these relationships will be built on mutual trust and respect.
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