USU Food Pantry Forges Partnerships to Expand Service to Students
The USU Food Recovery Bicycle will feature a trailer and adjustable components to accommodate all the volunteers who dedicate their time to the valley-wide food recovery project.
The Student Nutrition Access Center and Utah State University’s chapter of the Food Recovery Network recently introduced a new tool to address food waste and food security, while sticking to the principles of sustainability. The new USU Food Recovery Bicycle will now be used to pick up excess food from campus dining services and make deliveries to the SNAC food pantry.
Nelda Ault of USU’s Center for Civic Engagement and Service-Learning said the new bike will make the process much more efficient.
“Up until now, we’ve had to rely on the availability of a golf cart that belongs to the Dining Services director or our volunteers have stuffed their own bike saddle bags with food to transport to the SNAC office, hoping there would be enough room,” Ault said. “With a bike and trailer dedicated to donation transport, we know we have transportation when we need it, and enough space to accommodate all the donated food.”
Every morning at 7 a.m., a student recovers food from cooperating dining services and cafes on campus and delivers the perishable goods to the SNAC food pantry on the third floor of the Taggart Student Center. The food not used by SNAC consumers is then taken to the Cache Community Food Pantry or to Cache High School.
“During the school year we collect 100 to 130 pounds of food each day that would have otherwise been thrown away,” said James Wirth, director of USU’s Food Recovery Network chapter.
Aggie Blue Bikes helped purchase and assemble the bicycle and trailer. Funding was provided, in part, by the Blue Goes Green student grant program facilitated by the Student Sustainability Office.
SNAC is a program created by students at Utah State University through the Val R. Christensen Service Center, and its primary service is a student food pantry. The Food Recovery Network is a national nonprofit with the mission of creating food recovery programs on every college campus in the country. The two programs joined efforts in January 2015, and have since recovered over 2,000 pounds of food and supplied more than 350 student visits to the SNAC food pantry.
To volunteer for food recovery shifts, please contact director James Wirth at james.wirth@aggiemail.usu.edu. To volunteer for SNAC food pantry shifts, contact directors Emma Archibald and Chandra Marsh at snac@aggiemail.usu.edu.
Related link:
USU Center for Civic Engagement and Service-Learning
Contact: Nelda Ault, 435-797-1740, nelda.ault@usu.edu
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