Merrimack College recently partnered with the Center for the Study of Jewish-Christian-Muslim Relations and Outreach Inc. to pack 15,000 meals for the Merrimack Valley Food Bank. This is the fourth year that volunteers gathered together to pack meals in assembly lines which gave them the opportunity to “meet people of other faith traditions while engaging in dialogue and reflection-making the day even more meaningful.”
Fr. Raymond Dlugos, vice president for missions and ministry at the university, noted that the event “allows the wider community to appreciate the culture of care, concern, and respect for the dignity of others that is a hallmark of our campus. And it demonstrates that this culture not only exists in a few individuals who go out and serve, but it is actually a part of the air we breathe here on this campus.”
To read more about this food drive, visit Merrimack news.
Lourdes University took the message of Benedict Joseph Labre, the patron saint of homeless individuals to heart, by holding a “Fill the Freezer” 24 Hour Marathon. On January 12, Lourdes students, student organizations, faculty and staff worked shifts making casseroles all over a 24 hour period. This unique project benefited the Toledo Labre Project which “brings food, friendship and faith to those in need in two Toledo neighborhoods. Lourdes University students regularly aids the Toledo Labre Project and has been for a number of years.
“The ‘Fill the Freezer’ marathon allows us to more quickly restock supplies and continue offering warm, nutritious food during the cold winter months,” says Sister Barbara Vano, OSF, Director of Campus Ministry and Service Learning at Lourdes University.
To read more about Lourdes University’s partnership with Toledo Labre Project, visit Lourdes news.
In Fall 2015, ACCU highlighted several member colleges that participate in the Campus Kitchens Project to fight hunger and decrease food waste. Campus Kitchens Project is offering startup grants to additional institutions this year and have shared the following message with ACCU:
If hunger and food waste are issues in your community and you want to make an impact on both the community need and the waste on campus, consider starting a Campus Kitchen chapter at your school. Campus Kitchen students rescue food that would have gone to waste from their on-campus dining hall cafeterias and use that food to prepare and serve balanced nutritious meals to food insecure residents in their communities.
The Campus Kitchens Project is offering $5,000 startup grants to schools that are interested in working with older adult (50+) populations in their community. To begin the application process, visit our grants page or reach out directly to Matt Schnarr at mschnarr@campuskitchens.org.
The deadline to qualify is February 5th. Please visit our grant info page to learn more about this grant competition timeline and guidelines. Schools that qualify will then submit a short video explaining the need in their community and how a Campus Kitchen will meet that need. Selected finalists will compete in a week long voting competition, where at the end of the week, the 3 school’s videos with the highest number of votes will each receive $5,000 to plan and launch their Campus Kitchen!
Merrimack College students pose at their Campus Kitchen.
“Give us this day our daily bread.”
For Catholics, this phrase has been uttered countless times in the midst of prayer. And yet it rarely sparks a lengthy thought process about actual food. For many people, daily bread is a given, the next meal either waiting at home or picked up at a local restaurant or grocery store. But a vast number of others do worry about where their next meal will come from, both globally as well as here in the United States. The Campus Kitchens Project is one organization that is combating this problem on college campuses throughout the country.
Hunger and Catholic Social Teaching
Hunger and food security are issues that are closely tied to Catholic Social Teaching and its grounding principle: the dignity of every human life. As Catholic Relief Services’ campaign, Catholics Confront Global Poverty states, “The right to life for all persons, based on their identity as precious children of God, means that all people have basic rights to those things that are necessary for them to live and thrive, including the right to food.”
While the Church teaches that access to food is a fundamental right for all, statistics show that many families in the United States struggle with hunger. According to the Bread for the World Institute’s 2014 Hunger Report, the most recent data show that in 2012, nearly 50 million people in the United States resided in households that struggled to put adequate food on the table and approximately 50 percent of children living in the United States will live in a household that relies on government assistance for food by the time they are eighteen. It is evident that the right to food is being treated as a privilege in this country, and a privilege from which many are excluded.
Food justice is also intimately related to care for the environment, as it is a form of natural resource that we, as stewards of creation, are called to respect and share with all. Wasting food is just as egregious as wasting other natural resources, such as energy and water. That is why it is staggering to consider how much food is wasted every day while simultaneously one in six Americans don’t know where their next meal will come from. An estimated 40 percent of food in the United States is wasted every year, which costs Americans more than $165 billion annually and accounts for 25 percent of national methane emissions.
The Campus Kitchens Project (CKP) is helping build a connection between food that is wasted and people who do not have enough to eat. The CKP uses kitchen facilities and student volunteers on college and university campuses to accept, store, repackage, and deliver food to community partners that would normally be thrown away. Students participate in every part of the process, from collecting the food to making the meals, and even dining with those who they serve. CKP is currently at 45 campuses around the country, five of which are ACCU members: Gonzaga University, Marquette University, Saint Louis University, Saint Peter’s University, and Walsh University. Merrimack University will be the sixth ACCU member to start a Campus Kitchen with the launch of their project this fall.
On its website, the CKP defines its mission by three goals: “to strengthen bodies by using existing resources to meet hunger and nutritional needs of our community, to empower minds by providing leadership and service learning opportunities to students,… and to build communities by fostering a new generation of community-minded adults.” At Gonzaga University, this mission has proved to be successful. The campus chapter accepts food from several sources, including the Second Harvest Food Bank and on-campus dining halls, to provide nutritious meals for those who lack food security in the Spokane community. The website of the Gonzaga chapter tracks its effectiveness since beginning in 2005: The effort has recovered 98,362 pounds of food, served 92,297 meals, and logged a collective 15,294 hours.
The Campus Kitchens Project and Catholic Colleges and Universities
The goals of Campus Kitchens complement the social justice mission of Catholic colleges and universities. Emily Paulsen, Campus Kitchens’ representative at Gonzaga University, says that “the [university’s] notion of living a life for others fits right in with the work we do.” CKP’s model helps students live out the tenants of Catholic Social Teaching specific to hunger and food security in practical, transformative ways that benefit the students as much as those who receive a meal. Paulson describes how she has seen CKP affect the students who volunteer with the organization: “I have seen the students actually change their majors to degrees in social work because of their participation with the Campus Kitchen. We run a community dinner every Thursday night in downtown Spokane…The impact of students engaging with clients at the dinner is huge.”
Campus Kitchens’ congruence with the Catholic mission was an important factor to the Merrimack College students who brought the project to their campus, as well. Amy Byrne, one of the students instrumental in the process, describes how Campus Kitchens relates to her school’s Catholic identity: “The Catholic identity at Merrimack is focused on engaging our community through acts of compassion and education. Our Campus Kitchen is a natural extension of our values because it connects so many different partners in our community, and it addresses a number of social justice issues along the way.”
For the Merrimack College students involved in bringing CKP to their campus, the national office offered many resources that eased the process. One example is the $5,000 grant they received after winning an online contest offered by Campus Kitchens. These grants are offered several times throughout the year to help eliminate financial barriers that may arise in starting a school chapter. The Campus Kitchens Project also provides a Campus Kitchens Planner, an online tool that walks users step by step through the process and makes it easy to ask CKP staff for additional guidance. Byrne described how helpful the staff at CKP was, saying, “The head staff of the Campus Kitchens Project organization is so supportive and resourceful. They will do whatever they can to help you overcome obstacles along the way.”
The Campus Kitchens Project is one way of promoting the mission of Catholic higher education. It combats the issue of hunger through environmentally sustainable practices while inspiring leadership and solidarity in students. As Pope Francis said in his homily at the opening Mass of the Caritas Internationalis General Assembly in Rome on May 12, “We ought to set the table for all, and ask that there be a table for all.” The Campus Kitchens Project helps colleges and universities set the table for all in a sustainable, empowering way.
Meals prepared by students at Saint Louis University’s Campus Kitchen.
Catherine Coffey is a senior at Boston College and was a Peace and Justice Intern at the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities in summer 2015.
Want to start a Campus Kitchen Project chapter at your college or university? Not sure where to begin? Be sure to catch one of the remaining Fall 2015 information sessions in November and December! More information about how to start a Campus Kitchens chapter at your school, including grant opportunities, can be found on the website, campuskitchens.org.
October is a time when many begin thinking of pumpkins, apples, and other fruits of a bountiful harvest. Food advocates in the US promote educational resources on our national food issues, but how can students learn more about sustainable agriculture around the world? Catholic Relief Services provides resources to farmers internationally, and they’re sharing their stories with interested supporters in the US. CRS’s approach to agriculture encourages farmers and communities to work together so everyone can prosper. Read the full story on their website.
October is also National “Farm to School” month! There are a lot of ways you can involve your university in learning about food sustainability and environmental justice. Food Day is on October 24 – it’s a nationwide celebration and a movement for healthy, affordable and sustainable food. Catholic Rural Life recommends visiting the dedicated Food Day website to see a variety of resources to download. These include tips on planning an event, free tools to publicize your event, helpful fact sheets, or simply tips on how you can eat good, healthy foods. It even includes resources for college campuses and faith organizers! National Catholic Rural Life is mentioned in those resources with specific reference to their helpful Food and Justice study guide.
For more university-specific resources, check out ACCU’s Food Security page.
As harvest time rolls around, a lot of colleges and universities are turning their attention toward food security. In the U.S., this generally means shopping at farmers’ markets and promoting farmers’ rights as students attempt to learn the complex inner workings of our country’s food system. Internationally, food issues are even more interwoven and complicated.
Globalize your understanding on food security and what it would take to end world hunger by attending the Global Solidarity Network’s online leaning session, as advertised here. This session builds upon CRS’s 2014 Caritas Internationalis campaign of One Human Family, Food for All (see video below).
Did you know that there is an entire organization dedicated to the betterment of Catholic rural America? Catholic Rural Life (CRL) has a Food & Justice study guide as well as additional resources available on their website.
ACCU Peace and Justice 