Mission: Reduce food waste and food insecurity.
Do you know that on average, college campuses wasted 22 million lb of food per year? Meanwhile, 1 out of 5 children go hungry? These statistics applied to my campus and my own county too. I have been volunteering for Feed Arkadelphia since its conception in 2020 by my own close friend, Reanna Johnson. Now that she has graduated, I have taken over her project as the main overseer.
We joined Sodexo campaign of #StopHunger by packing leftover food from the cafetaria once a week and connected with OBU Elrod Center so that we can get a list of families in the Arkadelphia area who might need help with meals. The families we deliver the meals to are either those with financial disabilities--and therefore low food security--or senior adults who have complications with meal preparations.
For World Food Day, the senior dietetics students partnered with Feed Arkadelphia to raise awareness about food waste and how to prevent it.
It's always a joy for me every time I see the kids in the families we serve gleamed with their eyes when they receive the food. For some, this is their only meal for the day. For some, this is their only social interaction of the day. The best part is seeing their reactions receiving Thanksgiving baskets, Christmas baskets (groceries), and Valentine's Day candies. After all, it's about making connections, building relations, hearing stories and needs, and sharing love.
This new year of 2022, as the new leader for the organizations, here are some of the improvements I have made:
Pre-warmed food. Previously, we have only been packing cold food, for food safety reason, and lack of volunteers (because we were still a new program). But after delivering so many times to the homes, I realize that many of them do not have the means to reheat the food. I was also inspired by Meals On Wheels, which I volunteered at once. I talked to the chefs and discussed about how I can assure food safety. Honestly, taking the lessons I got from the Food System Management class and working for the cafetaria/Sodexo catering, I was able to convince the chefs that I could ensure correct heating and holding temperature.
Insulated bags! We were using plastic bags but those are not environmentally friendly and are not food-safe-friendly.
Silverwares. I applied for Kluck Service Enrichment Grant and got accepted. With the funding, we could buy silverwares to be packed with the food.
I'm excited to make this program more organized, to make it grow. I realize I cannot help everyone. But I can stop hunger, I person at a time, 1 day at a time, 1 meal at a time.
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