Donor’s generosity benefits UNMC food pantries – and students

Ben Aresty has a passion for nutrition, a concern about food insecurity and a desire to help UNMC.

As Aresty’s father came to the med center for years of treatment nearly a decade ago, Aresty said he recognized that health care workers sometimes struggled to take care of their own health and nutrition through the long hours. As a chef facing his own high demands, he said he could relate.

After his father, David, died, Aresty established the Monarch Fund to help pass on health and nutritional wellness practices to UNMC students and health care professionals. That has included teaching culinary classes to med students.

Now, Aresty has offered a new level of support.

Through the Monarch Fund, Aresty donated $5,000 toward the five food pantries that support UNMC’s campuses across the state. Those are: Maverick Food Pantry in Omaha, Husker Pantry in Lincoln, Loper Pantry in Kearney and local pantries in Scottsbluff and Norfolk to support the UNMC College of Nursing West Division and Norfolk Division.

Aresty said it’s an incredible feeling to have a passion around food and access to a fund that teaches future doctors how to cook, learn about good diets and gain access to proper nutrition.

By helping the healers, Aresty said he’s glad to see the fund “helping an area of focus that will actually help us.”

“There’s such a need for people to really understand how to help themselves in the area of nutrition,” Aresty said. “I care that people who need access to food are getting food.”

Aresty gave the donation after hearing about the issue from UNMC’s wellness committee.

In Omaha, the Maverick Food Pantry continues to be active supporting UNMC students, distributing 271 orders of food and hygiene supplies last year and 100 bags to UNMC students just since July, plus another 13 bags for children and dependents.

Steven Wengel, MD, a UNMC psychiatry professor and assistant vice chancellor for campus wellness, said UNMC students, like so many  others, have been negatively impacted by inflation and pandemic-related economic forces beyond their control.

“They have benefited greatly from the generosity of Mr. Aresty by his providing financial support of food pantries for all five UNMC campuses,” Dr. Wengel said. “Our students thank him, and I thank him.”