Whoever said "sharing is caring" had it exactly right!
Let's work together to address food insecurity on college campuses.
Hunger on American college campuses is more prevalent than I ever imagined. Food insecurity — a lack of access to affordable, nutritious food — affects more than one-third of college students. When students go hungry, they do not have a fair chance to graduate and make their own positive impact on the world. Food insecurity is an equity issue. If you don’t have healthy food to eat everyday, you are unlikely to thrive in class, lead a healthy lifestyle and build the social capital that it takes to get ahead. Meet My Kneads® is teaming up with established nonprofits to combat food insecurity on college campuses by donating a portion of our profits to this important cause.
Food insecurity on college campuses is one problem that I know we can solve. One of my favorite joys in life is sharing my kitchen creations with friends, family and our baking community on Instagram. I am so deeply happy when I have family and friends gathered around my kitchen table. That moment when fresh baked challah, still warm from the oven, is passed around the Shabbat dinner table is my favorite moment of the whole week. When I learned that many college students did not have reliable access to healthy food, it broke my heart. As a mom of 3 recent college grads, I know how hard it is to work toward a degree without the added complexity of having to figure out how to find your next meal.
Students need our help!
Before I read about this issue in the news, I assumed that if a student qualified for tuition assistance, they’d also receive financial resources to cover food. I was wrong. Rapidly rising tuition, food and housing costs coupled with stagnant and in some cases decreasing federal aid to college campuses have created the perfect storm resulting in widespread hunger for students living below the poverty line.
Food insecurity has a solution!
Currently, there is enough food on college campuses to feed all the students with much of the surplus going to waste. Furthermore, most universities do not track how many or know which of their students is food insecure. And many students experiencing food insecurity are unaware how to access what they need when resources are available. This, it turns out, is a classic resource reallocation problem. To solve it, we need a way to involve students and educators in reducing food and meal plan waste, redirect the unused food resources to those in need, provide easy access to the resources through programs that are publicized broadly and track our impact.
And here’s the really good news: Swipe Out Hunger and Nazun (formerly Challah for Hunger) are two student-founded non-profits that are already on the case.
Swipe Out Hunger provides commonsense and innovative solutions to campus hunger including their flagship program, “The Swipe Drive,” where students with extra dining hall meal swipes can donate them to their peers. So far, Swipe Out Hunger has served 1.8 million nourishing meals across 37 states on more than 100 campuses. This is a lifeline that has an immediate impact on students experiencing food insecurity.
With Nazun (formerly Challah for Hunger), students on 100+ US college campuses join in the centuries-old tradition of baking fresh challah bread and practicing tikkun olam, from Hebrew meaning repairing the world. Throughout the school year, Nazun (formerly Challah for Hunger) students bake challah and sell them hot out of the oven to their peers. All proceeds from the sale of these delicious loaves benefit needy students through partnerships with their local food pantry and their allies at Swipe Out Hunger.
I admire the elegance of these solutions. Here we see students helping students with low-tech, no nonsense, no bureaucratic red tape solutions that yield immediate results while preserving the dignity of the recipients. I love it!
We can do this together!
That’s why I support Swipe Out Hunger and Nazun (formerly Challah for Hunger) by donating a portion of our profits.
These determined college students who are seeking brighter futures for themselves and their families are grateful to you.
Thank you for your generosity in joining us and making your purchase. With Meet My Kneads® spice blends, you are having a positive impact not just in your kitchen but in the world!
