Hobart and William Smith Colleges has had a student-led food recovery initiative

For the past two semesters, Hobart and William Smith Colleges has had a student-led food recovery initiative!  Twice a week, after the lunch meal was finished at the dining hall, motivated students developed and implemented a system to collect, store, and distribute the meals to the community. The students had to learn and follow food safety procedures required for food donation. They collected the food hot, weighed it, separated it into to-go containers, and moved to a refrigerator right away. The next day another student would drive the meals to be distributed. The delivery of meals was to the Geneva Center of Concern and the Community Lunch Program. Both organizations already have a network in place to distribute food to people in need from our community. We were able to provide them with additional meals for distribution.

Food insecurity is a major issue in Geneva and many people expressed gratitude for the additional meals.  Over two semesters we donated nearly 1000 full entrée meals, plus over 900 single serve items (slice of pizza, burger, sandwich), and over 600 side dishes,  This equaled 1,350 pounds of perfectly good food that was diverted from the compost and instead fed hundreds of people.

If your institution is launching a food donation effort and you have any questions please email Sustainability@hws.edu.