The first interest meeting for a University chapter of a national food recycling initiative — known as the Campus Kitchens Project — took place yesterday night in the interest of promoting a new initiative that will provide local homeless and hungry residents with leftover portions of dining hall food.
According to the nonprofit organization’s Web site, the organization allows “thousands of students each year to recycle food from their cafeterias, turn these donations into nourishing meals, and deliver those meals (along with a friendly visit) to those who need it most in communities across the country.”
The idea behind the University’s chapter was first formed about a year ago when a small group of Engineering students working on their thesis project teamed up with Ayisha Memon, a fourth-year College student who had been pursuing the idea for several years, said Campus Kitchens coordinator Caroline Nettles, who also is a fourth-year Engineering student.
Memon said she first began to look for an organization after learning that several homeless and needy individuals in Charlottesville were not receiving sufficient meals and nutrition, while there was plenty of leftover food at University dining facilities. The goal was “to reconcile that, bridge the gap, and on the way be more sustainable,” Memon said.
According to 2005 U.S. Census estimates, about 25 percent of Charlottesville citizens below the poverty line, said Krystal Boitnoot. a University CPK coordinator and fourth-year Engineering student. She added that only 70 percent of the meals distributed by the Charlottesville Salvation Army are donated by others, meaning the Salvation Army must provide 30 percent of meals.
Additionally, Nettles noted, most of the food wasted by the University goes to the Amelia landfill. She added that the about 80-mile drive causes extensive air pollution and is expensive for the University.
For the past year, the students have been working with Director of Dining Services Brent Beringer to help further the project.
“Having Brent’s support behind us really helps us a lot,” said John Bankson, another coordinator and fourth-year Engineering student.
Beringer said dining is currently relocating some of its operations out of Runk dining hall to Ivy Road to make space for the student initiative. He said dining wanted to “create space that they could use [and] hopefully for the most part be able to walk to it.”
The commissary kitchen in Runk, Beringer added, will “allow students to work safely [and] have access to everything they need,” while keeping CKP food separate from the rest of the dining hall food. Beringer said the source of the CKP food is leftover portions that were never served.
[Food that] “otherwise would have gone unused will actually find a very good purpose,” Beringer said.
In addition to coordinating with dining services on such projects as cataloguing the number of excess meals in the dining halls, the student group also aims to create an advisory board of people who will remain in Charlottesville after students graduate, Nettles said.
“If faculty and community members are involved, it gives the program longevity,” she added.
While the group’s recently completed application for admittance into the organization has not yet been approved or denied, the founders are already making plans. The group will need to start raising funds early on despite a grant that will be provided over the first few years by the national organization, Bankson said.
Another difficulty will be trying to continue the operation during student breaks, Memon said, because the organization hopes to provide food locally year-round. Additionally, the founders are in need of people to carry on the University initiative after they graduate.
Currently, the group is looking for a student leadership committee of eight to 12 committed people, Nettles said. This will include positions in volunteer recruitment, fundraising, food resourcing, delivery expansion and nutrition.
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