Service through Sharing the Surplus

“We know that a peaceful world cannot exist one-third rich and two-thirds hungry. If you can’t feed a hundred people, then feed just one.” ~Mother Teresa

Everyone warned me there would be a lot of food. As I came to the end of my first semester as the graduate assistant for The Campus Kitchen at Virginia Tech, I was coordinating our shifts as the dining facilities closed for the winter break. Working with student volunteers, Campus Kitchen reclaims unserved food from seven campus dining centers that is then distributed through local hunger-relief organizations. In that semester, we would usually see between 100-150 lbs. of food per delivery, including “grab-n-gobble” items, repackaged food that didn’t make it out for service the previous few days, as well as raw ingredients they didn’t end up using.

Why are we receiving this food? Well, think about it this way -- I bet we all probably have items in our refrigerators that have been there longer than they should be. For me, I usually hold onto leftovers longer than I should and will try to use produce until the last possible moment. Those are risks I am willing to take in my own kitchen that I could not hold someone else accountable for. Being a food business, Dining Services has to ensure they’re selling the highest quality, safest food as they could be held accountable should anything go wrong.

Campus dining facilities are unique entities. Given the amount of time the Virginia Tech dining facilities would be closed for winter break, they were getting ready to clear out their coolers because the food would not be safe to serve when they reopened. Our community partners benefit from this because Campus Kitchen doesn’t make deliveries over winter break, but community partners remain open. While getting a lot of food at one time can be overwhelming for our partners, it can also help them continue operating while Campus Kitchen is not.

The day finally came for us to do our big delivery from Au Bon Pain (ABP) to the Giving Tree Food Pantry in Christiansburg. My graduate advisor was interested in coming along, so she and her husband met me at Squires. I’ll never forget the look the ABP manager gave me when he saw me pull up in a minivan. It was the kind of look that said, “Where are the other cars you’re using?” I got out of the van and he chuckled, saying he had a lot more food than would fit into one minivan. The next thing I knew, boxes upon boxes of food were coming out of Squires and the Graduate Life Center (GLC) for us to take -- soup, bread, deli meat, cheese, milk, and produce of all kinds. It did not take long for my one minivan to fill up, with plenty more boxes coming our way.

At this point, panic was starting to set in. My advisor graciously offered her husband’s pick-up truck for us to use, but he had to go get it on the other side of campus. When they pulled back to the GLC parking lot, it was as if a golden chariot had come to save the day. We continued to load the food into his truck and it all fit.

When all was said and done, we delivered 1,800 lbs. of food from campus to the Giving Tree. That food went out into the community that same day, as it was also the Giving Tree’s last open day until the new year. They didn’t have much food before we got there, but they had plenty once we left. Their volunteers were exclaiming that it was like a holiday miracle that we were bringing them so much food and what kind of difference it would make for the community.

When I got back to the VT Engage office, I had to sit down because it finally hit me what we’d just done. 1,800 lbs. of food – nearly a ton – that we took from campus to the community in two hours using a pick-up truck and a minivan. This food was going to be able to feed people in our own community who did not have access to food for a variety of reasons, but still needed something to eat.

I’d never seen so much food at one time in my life, and it’s not been something that I’ve forgotten. We’re now gearing up now for this year’s end-of-semester deliveries, and we could use your help! If you’re interested in serving with us, we are going to need volunteers all the way through Winter Commencement. Consider joining us on one of our upcoming two-hour shifts! If you cannot make it before winter break, we hope to see you during the spring semester – we’ll have several shifts each week! This work would not be possible without volunteers like you.