1. Untitled UW-Eau Claire Campus Kitchens Project Story for CJ 427 Final Assignment<br />Jacki DuPont<br />December 14, 2009<br />Since 1974, food waste in American has risen 50 percent. That means over 1,400 calories of food per day and over 150 trillion calories per year are simply tossed out. At the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, whole economy size cans of vegetables, trays of Spanish rice or boxes of hamburger patties go to waste in the school’s dining areas daily.<br />Although college students often criticize college cafeteria food, they may not realize that they taking their university’s dining services for granted.<br />A new organization on the UW-Eau Claire campus, the Campus Kitchens Project, recovers food from the dining halls using volunteer students to cook and deliver meals to low-income people in the community. <br />The Campus Kitchens Project is a national organization headquartered in Washington, D.C. By October 2009, the Campus Kitchen at Washington and Lee University in Virginia served 1,656 meals, passed 2,947 pounds of food to local food pantries, enlisted 514 volunteers and recovered 6,196 pounds of food that would have gone to waste, according to the organization’s website.<br />The UW-Eau Claire Campus Kitchen is still young, but with its connection to UW-Eau Claire’s focus on service-learning, it has the opportunity to become a success.<br />The UW-Eau Claire service learning program requires students to complete at least 30 hours of community service before graduation. The service learning program developed during the 1980s as a way to increase the awareness of diversity, said Donald Mowry, Director of the Center for Service-Learning.<br />“Since that time, I think the service learning movement has even expanded to encompass what we call civic engagements,” Mowry said. “And now, it’s not only a good teaching tool but it’s also a way to reach kind of a means to an end to teach students to be good citizens.”<br />Today, the UW-Eau Claire Center for Service-Learning offers over 100 on-campus service-learning opportunities and many on-campus opportunities, including Campus Kitchens.<br />AmeriCorps*VISTA Campus Kitchen coordinator at UW-Eau Claire, Ashley McCarthy, believes that the connection between the program and the Center for Service-Learning has made the UW-Eau Claire Campus Kitchens a success.<br />“Students have been really great about wanting to get involved,” McCarthy said. “A big part of that is the service learning requirement we have on campus. This is a way to fulfill that. So it’s a way to kind of draw students in, but most people get really into the project and like what they’re doing, so they’ll stick around long past the service learning requirement and I think a lot of students feel really drawn to what’s going on here and you really feel like you’re making an impact on the community, which you don’t necessarily feel in other organizations.” <br />UW-Eau Claire student and Campus Kitchens volunteer, Ryn Keatley, found out about Campus Kitchens at the Blugold Organization Bash early this fall, and started coming because she thought it was a “cool” thing to do.<br />“I definitely like that we are using food that otherwise might go to waste, to help someone that doesn’t have any,” Keatley said. “I’ve done delivery to the different places that we take foods, the school and the men’s shelter. And then I’ve done cooking and worked the leadership team stuff and so, yeah. And I went apple picking last Saturday, at an apple orchard in Chippewa Falls, so that’s where the apples we had earlier came from, so, it’s pretty awesome.”<br />The student-led hunger relief effort is supported by 19 universities and one high school nationwide. UW-Eau Claire’s Campus Kitchen is one of the two in Wisconsin. [need to add the location of the other Campus Kitchen in Wisconsin, because it raises a queston in the readers mind] McCarthy said she hopes other University of Wisconsin schools will join the project in the future. <br />One Eau Claire location that receives food from the UW-Eau Claire Campus Kitchen is Northwest Journey, a day-school for children with behavioral and mental complications. According to Lara Doerrer, the Program Coordinator of Northwest Journey-Eau Claire, said these children were once expected to bring their own lunches, but many were not, and many of the students come from low-income families who are often unable provide hot meals during the week.<br />“We do serve some food here for them, we serve snacks and stuff, but most of our kids were bringing their own food from home and some of them didn’t have a lot of nutritious meals at home. So, they were coming in, and we were serving them some basic meals, but our budget didn’t really allow for a hot, warm meal for the kids every day,” Doerrer said.<br />According to Doerrer, the children have an option of bringing their own lunch, but most opt to have a hot meal provided by the UW-Eau Claire’s Campus Kitchen.<br />“I would say 80 to 90 percent of the kids choose to eat here,” Doerrer said.<br />The Campus Kitchens Project at UW-Eau Claire has even inspired one UW-Eau Claire student, Rose Riordan, to start a new Campus Kitchen at UW-Stevens Point, where she will be transferring next semester. Riordan was inspired to begin a Campus Kitchen after attending the national conference with McCarthy earlier this fall.<br />“I feel like it’s really important because it’s a student led hunger relief and the food that we use would be thrown away, if we didn’t use it; which is really sad because it feeds people that really need some food,” Riordan said.<br /> “It takes a lot of work to get them started, there are a lot of different people that have to agree,” McCarthy said. “It took them a few years to get this up and running, so, it’s great that we’re doing it. Earlier this year, when the Board of Regents came to campus, we had their assistants and spouses come see what we do. We did a presentation. So, now the Board is much more informed about what’s going on and we really hope that will help spread it to other UW campuses.”<br />Riverview Cafeteria manager, Marvin Johnson, works with McCarthy and the volunteers in the kitchen. He says that working with the enthusiastic volunteers is one of the favorite parts of his job.<br />“Well, I think it’s really kind of amazing how well these students really do in the kitchen and how they’ve been doing an outstanding job getting the meals out to the folks that need them out in the area,” Johnson said.<br />According to Mowry and McCarthy, they are enjoying the success of UW-Eau Claire’s Campus Kitchen and look forward to the future. McCarthy said that the organization is working with a new community garden in Eau Claire and hopes it will provide nutritious produce for their clients. Mowry said that with the success they have seen, UW-Eau Claire’s Campus Kitchen should be able to find more clients to serve and increase their operations.<br />Johnson said he has enjoyed his experience and thinks that the partnership between UW-Eau Claire Campus Kitchens and UW-Eau Claire Dining Services is a good match. As for the future, Johnson said, “I hope it keeps cranking. We’re going to do what we can to keep it going.”<br />
![Untitled UW-Eau Claire Campus Kitchens Project Story for CJ 427 Final Assignment<br />Jacki DuPont<br />December 14, 2009<br />Since 1974, food waste in American has risen 50 percent. That means over 1,400 calories of food per day and over 150 trillion calories per year are simply tossed out. At the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, whole economy size cans of vegetables, trays of Spanish rice or boxes of hamburger patties go to waste in the school’s dining areas daily.<br />Although college students often criticize college cafeteria food, they may not realize that they taking their university’s dining services for granted.<br />A new organization on the UW-Eau Claire campus, the Campus Kitchens Project, recovers food from the dining halls using volunteer students to cook and deliver meals to low-income people in the community. <br />The Campus Kitchens Project is a national organization headquartered in Washington, D.C. By October 2009, the Campus Kitchen at Washington and Lee University in Virginia served 1,656 meals, passed 2,947 pounds of food to local food pantries, enlisted 514 volunteers and recovered 6,196 pounds of food that would have gone to waste, according to the organization’s website.<br />The UW-Eau Claire Campus Kitchen is still young, but with its connection to UW-Eau Claire’s focus on service-learning, it has the opportunity to become a success.<br />The UW-Eau Claire service learning program requires students to complete at least 30 hours of community service before graduation. The service learning program developed during the 1980s as a way to increase the awareness of diversity, said Donald Mowry, Director of the Center for Service-Learning.<br />“Since that time, I think the service learning movement has even expanded to encompass what we call civic engagements,” Mowry said. “And now, it’s not only a good teaching tool but it’s also a way to reach kind of a means to an end to teach students to be good citizens.”<br />Today, the UW-Eau Claire Center for Service-Learning offers over 100 on-campus service-learning opportunities and many on-campus opportunities, including Campus Kitchens.<br />AmeriCorps*VISTA Campus Kitchen coordinator at UW-Eau Claire, Ashley McCarthy, believes that the connection between the program and the Center for Service-Learning has made the UW-Eau Claire Campus Kitchens a success.<br />“Students have been really great about wanting to get involved,” McCarthy said. “A big part of that is the service learning requirement we have on campus. This is a way to fulfill that. So it’s a way to kind of draw students in, but most people get really into the project and like what they’re doing, so they’ll stick around long past the service learning requirement and I think a lot of students feel really drawn to what’s going on here and you really feel like you’re making an impact on the community, which you don’t necessarily feel in other organizations.” <br />UW-Eau Claire student and Campus Kitchens volunteer, Ryn Keatley, found out about Campus Kitchens at the Blugold Organization Bash early this fall, and started coming because she thought it was a “cool” thing to do.<br />“I definitely like that we are using food that otherwise might go to waste, to help someone that doesn’t have any,” Keatley said. “I’ve done delivery to the different places that we take foods, the school and the men’s shelter. And then I’ve done cooking and worked the leadership team stuff and so, yeah. And I went apple picking last Saturday, at an apple orchard in Chippewa Falls, so that’s where the apples we had earlier came from, so, it’s pretty awesome.”<br />The student-led hunger relief effort is supported by 19 universities and one high school nationwide. UW-Eau Claire’s Campus Kitchen is one of the two in Wisconsin. [need to add the location of the other Campus Kitchen in Wisconsin, because it raises a queston in the readers mind] McCarthy said she hopes other University of Wisconsin schools will join the project in the future. <br />One Eau Claire location that receives food from the UW-Eau Claire Campus Kitchen is Northwest Journey, a day-school for children with behavioral and mental complications. According to Lara Doerrer, the Program Coordinator of Northwest Journey-Eau Claire, said these children were once expected to bring their own lunches, but many were not, and many of the students come from low-income families who are often unable provide hot meals during the week.<br />“We do serve some food here for them, we serve snacks and stuff, but most of our kids were bringing their own food from home and some of them didn’t have a lot of nutritious meals at home. So, they were coming in, and we were serving them some basic meals, but our budget didn’t really allow for a hot, warm meal for the kids every day,” Doerrer said.<br />According to Doerrer, the children have an option of bringing their own lunch, but most opt to have a hot meal provided by the UW-Eau Claire’s Campus Kitchen.<br />“I would say 80 to 90 percent of the kids choose to eat here,” Doerrer said.<br />The Campus Kitchens Project at UW-Eau Claire has even inspired one UW-Eau Claire student, Rose Riordan, to start a new Campus Kitchen at UW-Stevens Point, where she will be transferring next semester. Riordan was inspired to begin a Campus Kitchen after attending the national conference with McCarthy earlier this fall.<br />“I feel like it’s really important because it’s a student led hunger relief and the food that we use would be thrown away, if we didn’t use it; which is really sad because it feeds people that really need some food,” Riordan said.<br /> “It takes a lot of work to get them started, there are a lot of different people that have to agree,” McCarthy said. “It took them a few years to get this up and running, so, it’s great that we’re doing it. Earlier this year, when the Board of Regents came to campus, we had their assistants and spouses come see what we do. We did a presentation. So, now the Board is much more informed about what’s going on and we really hope that will help spread it to other UW campuses.”<br />Riverview Cafeteria manager, Marvin Johnson, works with McCarthy and the volunteers in the kitchen. He says that working with the enthusiastic volunteers is one of the favorite parts of his job.<br />“Well, I think it’s really kind of amazing how well these students really do in the kitchen and how they’ve been doing an outstanding job getting the meals out to the folks that need them out in the area,” Johnson said.<br />According to Mowry and McCarthy, they are enjoying the success of UW-Eau Claire’s Campus Kitchen and look forward to the future. McCarthy said that the organization is working with a new community garden in Eau Claire and hopes it will provide nutritious produce for their clients. Mowry said that with the success they have seen, UW-Eau Claire’s Campus Kitchen should be able to find more clients to serve and increase their operations.<br />Johnson said he has enjoyed his experience and thinks that the partnership between UW-Eau Claire Campus Kitchens and UW-Eau Claire Dining Services is a good match. As for the future, Johnson said, “I hope it keeps cranking. We’re going to do what we can to keep it going.”<br />](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/uweauclairecampuskitchensproject-13016407149725-phpapp02/85/Volunteer-Work-at-UW-Eau-Claire-Campus-Kitchens-1-320.jpg)
