Saturday, March 15, 2014
College Food Banks for Hungry Students
College food banks are on the rise. I contribute to a food bank at a junior college nearby. Have you investigated the possibility of donating to a food bank on a college campus near you? The Baptist Student Union runs the one here.
Your turn
Do you know if there is a food bank on a campus near you or where your child attends? Could you contribute any food to a campus food bank?
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Sad and bad. We have soup kitchens rather than food pantries. And I contribute to Oz Harvest which collects unused food from banquets, special events, bakeries, supermarkets and the like to distribute where needed.
ReplyDeleteEC,
ReplyDeleteI would not go to a soup kitchen before a food bank. I never heard of Oz Harvest. Some of the larger, more progressive cities have coordinated collections like yours. There is none citywide in my town. However, some churches collect from grocery stores, but never anyplace with leftover, cooked food. Thanks for sharing your method.
I particularly like it because it means that people get 'treat' food. Banquet quality. It doesn't replace other food collections, but is a wonderful supplement. And sooo much better than throwing the food away and wasting it.
DeleteEC,
DeleteThat is true. I like that idea, too. I thought you meant doing away with the food banks. The only soup kitchen I know of has huge pots that they empty commercial cans of chicken noodle soup into.
Besides, the term "soup kitchen" has a connotation that most in this country do not want to be attached to because it is very negative. There are pictures of lines of desperate people during the Great Depression lined up for a bit of watery soup and maybe an apple. It was not a good source of food, but it was there only source. Maybe some of the soup was good, but not what I have read about.
I heard several ladies talking about how they saved food scraps from meals to make soup for their soup kitchen. I imagined they scraped a few green beans off plates, too. That is so gross to me.
"their only source..."
DeleteOur city has a wonderful, wonderful elderly woman who makes huge vats of home-made soup, packs it into her van and drives around to places where the homeless and/or the hungry are likely to be found. A few years ago she was recognised at person of the year - a deserved honour. 'Soup kitchen' is a generic term here - and I am confident that the food is mostly pretty good.
DeleteI'll stop cluttering up your comments now - thanks for listening.
Ec.
DeleteYou are NOT cluttering up my blog. I am quite sure she did not use her plate scraps and it was delicious and nutritious. I wonder if AU ever had 'soup kitchens' during the era of our Depression.
We have groups, Food not Bombs, that provides soup or beans and bread on street corners or in front of businesses for homeless, hungry or passersby. All the food is vegan and gotten by donations and given away--no money accepted. Have you heard of that?
I think I just deleted my comment. If you get two, feel free to delete one.
ReplyDeleteI am pretty certain we did have soup kitchens during our Depression years. I hope we did. They are still known by that name though.
In Melbourne there is one called Loaves and Fishes which was started when one of our advertising gurus donated the money from a BIG win on the races to start it off. He still visits and helps out.
There are some good people in the world - which I find comforting to remember.
We have something called that, probably some sort of agency feeding people. The guru used his money for a good thing that continues to help. Thankfully, there are good people in the world.
DeleteIf it is a liberal school, they can all starve to death. They are teaching them to be moochers as it is.
ReplyDeleteCoffeypot,
DeleteI have no idea. But, how are they teaching them to be moochers?
I read about that today. I certain appreciate that it is being done. By my senior year of college (many years ago) I could have used one as I was self supporting. My roomie stood on line and got surplus cheese. And as for another commenter, I am a liberal and getting a college education and having been the recipient of public assistance enabled me to pursue a degree, get good employment and pay substantially more in taxes than I ever received in assistance.
ReplyDeleteNo one should go hungry when they are in pursuit of an education that will help make them productive and contributory members of society.
Alex,
DeleteWhen I was in school, borrowing money for an education and getting grants, I had no one to help me. It was me alone. I could not get food stamps because any college student must work 20 hours each week. Since it took me 2.5 hours from my door to classroom, I had no time to work or brain. I was mid 40s when I went back to school. I do understand being in need of food.
One summer, I went to class from 1 pm to 10 pm, taking two 4-hour classes. Every bite I ate had to be hauled in a cooler from home because I never had even $1 on me to purchase a Coke.
My elderly neighbor had given me sweet potatoes, potatoes, and peas, all of which I cooked and packed and ate all day long for snacks and meals.
She had gone to school in her mid 40s and said she never had money to even buy a pack of crackers. So, she made me take food and sometimes money. When she was 88, I was 44.
She was a school teacher from her mid 30s until she was 77. When she started, she did not need a degree or one day of college. She was able to sustain herself in old age, and help her grandchildren. They would all have been on welfare if not for her going to school.
What a wonderful woman she must have been!
ReplyDeleteHow the heck were you able to go to school with three children? Was this after they were grown? Kudos to you!
I know that both of those methods, food bank and harvests, are available here but since leaving the food industry I am out of the loop. so I have no recent knowledge on how they operate.My feeling is that if you are a banquet facility how can you, in good conscience, just throw away un-served food? BUT on the other hand if you attempt to pass on good, nourishing food to people in need, One of those governmental agencies will probably stick their noses into it and regulate what you can and can't serve. Damned if you do damned if you don't.
My charity of choice is HABITAT FOR HUMANITY. I like animals but those Sarah McLaughlin ads just get on my last nerve. I say PEOPLE first.
I am all for education BUT kids who are living in dorm rooms are not on the top of m
my charity list.
DeleteThe one here is not just for kids living in dorms. Any hungry student can come. Plus, married students come to get food for their families.
DeleteGood for you on the charity list.
I've never heard of food banks geared at helping college students. I remember a nun I worked with once told me she picked through the trash and ate leftover pizza other students threw away when she was in school. As "gross" as some people may think that is, I admired her ability to set pride aside and do what needed to be done.
ReplyDeletetlc,
DeleteI have eaten from the trash when I dumpster dived. But, I got produce from boxes and eggs, gallons of milk. I even shared with friends who did not care. However, eating pizza from a college trash can would probably not happen with me. It is admirable but still not something I would do. Pride is not the thing; sharing germs is. Interesting. Thanks.