Bronco Food Pantry Assistant receives Undergraduate Student Employee of the Year award

Every spring, student employees across campus are celebrated for their critical contributions to campus operations. An additional awards ceremony honoring an exemplary undergraduate and graduate student employee is also held. This year’s recipient of the Gary L. Belleville Student Employee of the Year award was Mario Antonio Valenzuela, an undergraduate assistant at the Montgomery Essential Needs Bronco Food Pantry. 

Donielle Easlick, program manager for Montgomery Essential Needs, nominated Antonio for the award based on his demonstrated leadership skills, extraordinary professionalism and innovative ideas, all of which have made an impact on daily operations in the food pantry. In her nomination, Donielle affirmed Antonio’s passion for the program's lasting success and highlighted the broad skillset and positive, empathetic attitude he brings to work every day. 

“Working at the food pantry isn't just a job for Antonio,” says Donielle. “Over the past two years, he has come to me with ideas for improvements and shared his perspective on student needs. He believes in the mission of Montgomery Essential Needs and wants to make sure his peers have the support they need. He's a great example of what can happen when you encourage/empower a student and then get out of their way.” 

“Receiving this award feels awesome,” says Antonio. “It is a great feeling to know that the work I put in at the pantry actually gets noticed. It definitely motivates me to keep pushing and find new ways to help out.” 

Of course, all who know and work with Antonio can attest to the fact that he does more than simply help out at the food pantry. In addition to helping hire, train and mentor other food pantry employees, staffing tabling events and volunteering his time to keep the pantry staffed during critical times of need, Antonio has spearheaded the program’s marketing efforts. As a digital marketing major, he has been able to put the skills and knowledge acquired through his coursework into action. 

“I treat our outreach like a real brand strategy to make sure we reach as many people as possible,” he says. “It definitely affirms my career path because it shows me that I can use marketing to actually do some good in the world.” 

Along with running the Montgomery Essential Needs social media channels, Antonio has been an instrumental part of creating better name recognition for the program and its services across campus. His work to gather survey feedback from pantry users allowed WMU staff to make data-informed decisions for overall program offerings and operations. According to Donielle, Antonio is also responsible for creating a comprehensive Donation Drive informational packet that has increased confidence in volunteers and created a more seamless process for pantry employees. 

Thanks to his tireless efforts, the Bronco Food Pantry has increased its service offerings and secured permanent partnerships with local gardeners and organizations like the Kalamazoo Nature Center. Antonio hopes to maintain these partnerships and focus on building new ones in the coming months, with the goal of fostering community connections and turning one-time donors into long-term supporters. 

“I am excited to see us move toward more sustainable systems. I want to see us get to a point where we have steady resources all year long. Improving how we use our digital tools will make it much easier for people to support us consistently.” 

For Antonio, that support and the community surrounding the food pantry is the best part of working at Montgomery Essential Needs. “I love seeing how a simple post or a quick conversation can lead to someone getting the help they need,” he says. “It is rewarding to work with people who actually care about making an impact in Kalamazoo.” 

“Antonio is such a genuinely caring, humble, and hard-working student,” says Donielle. “Hands down, easiest nomination I've ever written. I'm so glad he was selected and we can all celebrate him.”