S1 - E77 - Free Food App (Affordability)

ASCEND Podcast

In recent years there seems to be an increase in food insecurity among college students. And even if students do have access to an adequate amount of food, on the whole they still seem to always be hungry. To address this need, your institution might consider creating a ‘Free Food’ app.
In many instances, campus activity boards, clubs, and organizations are always looking for increased attendance at their events. So why not merge a student’s need for food and an organization's desire for more attendance? It is as simple as collecting and sharing one piece of data -- will there be free food?
On your campus calendar, add the ability for those submitting their event to check a box if there will be free food. Then, display these events on the Free Food app or website in a filtered manner so that students can easily find events each day on campus where they can go get free feed. In doing so, attendance at events will increase, sense of belonging and connection among the student deepens, and students save money, which helps with the financial concerns. It is a win-win situation all the way around.
Another variation of this concept is to partner with your campus food service department. On average, catering offices are providing multiple lunches and dinners each day for a variety of meetings and banquets on campus. Rarely is all the food at these events eaten, and therefore goes to waste. Rather than letting all this food be disposed of, a campus might consider creating a service whereby they send out a text alert or app notification to interested students to let them know that there is leftover food in a particular location on campus. Students who are able, can swing by the function and fill up reusable containers with the leftover food. Another win-win situation; hungry students get access to food and less food goes to waste.