PAGE 2 // WEDNESDAY, MAY 12, 2010
NEWS
THE PENDULUM
Campus Kitchen plans to reduce food waste at Elon
Amanda Bender
Senior Reporter
When the evening meal
at Colonnades is over and
students leave, employees
gather all the food that
students did not eat and throw
it out. Campus Kitchen, a new
student organization coming
to Elon University this fall,
plans to reduce food waste
on campus by packaging the
extra food into meals for the
homeless and less fortunate
in the community.
Campus Kitchen is a
national organization with 40
programs around the country,
three of which are in North
Carolina. These kitchens take
any leftover food, prepare it,
package it and distribute it
to various organizations and
individuals in need.
“It is difficult to walk into
Colonnades as they are closing
and see how much food they
are throwing away,” said
Christina Strader, a junior
who helped found Elon’s
branch of Campus Kitchen.
“I am sure this is something
that ARAMARK wanted to do
something about but had no
resources.”
Campus Kitchen will
partner with ARAMARK,
Elon’s food service provider,
and Allied Churches, an
organization that provides
food and shelter to the
community’s homeless
individuals. Strader said
ARAMARK would provide
the food, kitchen and storage
space on campus that the
organization needs.
Mary Morrison, director of
the Kernodle Center for Service
Learning, said ARAMARK may
have to adjust how much food
is served to Elon students at
a time, due to regulations on
what food Campus Kitchen
can serve.
The meals will be initially
delivered to Allied Churches,
which Morrison said serves
100 - 150 meals a day. On the
weekends, the meals will go
to Caring Kitchen, another
organization in the Burlington
area that provides meals to
those who are less fortunate
in the community.
“Ultimately, we would like
to deliver the individually
prepared meals that we create
to individuals living at home
as well as to Allied Churches,”
Strader said.
Morrison said Campus
Kitchen is not trying to take
over other organizations that
meet this need but rather help
supplement the work that is
already being done to feed the
Burlington community.
“We will prepare the food,
we will deliver the food and
frequently our students will
eat with the people who are
being served, so there will
be opportunities to develop
relationships,”Morrison said.
Campus Kitchen will begin
developing its staff this
summer. In July, the group
plans to hire a staff director
and in September, it will hire
the student-run executive
board.
Strader said they plan to
begin with six students on the
board and grow from there.
She said there will be a wide
variety of needs to be met,
including someone to ensure
the nutrition of the meals and
JUSTINE SCHULERUD | Photo Editor
A worker at Colonnades Dining Hall prepares a meal for students. A new organization coming to campus in the fall
looks to package leftovers for local organizations and individuals in need.
someone working to market
and promote the organization
in the community. Groups,
classes and individuals
will be able to volunteer to
work shifts preparing and
distributing the food.
Strader said this summer
four of those involved with
Campus Kitchen and the
Kernodle Center will be
attending a training session
in Washington, D.C.
There are many
opportunities for growth,
Morrison said. The program
can expand to include the Elon
community garden by using
the food that students grow in
the organization's prepared
meals and programs where
students can teach nutrition
classes to the community.
Morrison learned about
the program through North
Carolina Campus Compact,
which brings together colleges
working to promote campus
participation in public
service, according to its Web
site. Wake Forest University
presented the success that its
Campus Kitchen has had to
the members of the Compact.
“Ithought(CampusKitchen)
sounds like something that
would fit with Elon’s values,”
Morrison said. “We have values
around service, values around
sustainability and values
around student leadership,
and it just fit all of that.”
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