Hunger

ecommendations
Their online system allows restaurants, dining halls, and other food
donors to post a notice when they have excess food available. Local food
pantries and food banks, including campus food pantries, can then claim
the excess food, at which time they are given the contact information of
the donor and can schedule a time to pick up the surplus food. 29
Another approach seeks to make use of excess food from catered events
on campus. At California State University, Fresno, for example, the
Catered Cupboard mobile app notifies students when an on-campus
catered event ends and there is leftover food available. 30
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Dining Center Meal Donations
Many campus dining hall meal plans provide students with a set number
of pre-paid meal dollars or points to spend. If students have unused points
at the end of the term, those points are usually lost. At many schools,
programs like Swipe Out Hunger have helped students and dining
halls create systems where students can donate some of their extra meal
points. 31 Depending on the agreement made with the dining hall, these
donated points are converted to money that is then given to a local antihunger
charity, converted to food that is given to local food programs, or
used to fund dining hall vouchers for food insecure students. 32
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Improving Access to Benefits
Students often do not know where or how to access benefit programs that
could provide them with valuable assistance with needs like food, child care,
rent, utilities, and medical care. Programs like Single Stop set up a campus
location where students can stop in to learn about available benefits. 33
Trained staff or volunteers help students find out if they qualify for benefit
programs, then assist them with the application process. At Oregon State
University, the Human Services Resource Center was established to offer
many of the services described in this section, including providing students
with assistance in applying for benefits. 34
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SNAP Retailer on Campus
29 MEANS, “About,” http://www.meansdatabase.com/about.
30 Fresno State University Food Security Project, “Catered Cupboard,” http://www.fresnostate.
edu/studentaffairs/foodsecurity/mobile-app.html.
31 Swipe Out Hunger, “About,” http://www.swipehunger.org/about.
32 Emma Miller, “Columbia University unveils plan to feed students who can’t afford to eat,”
USA Today, September 22, 2015, http://usat.ly/1MHjDHN
33 Single Stop, “Our Work,” http://bit.ly/2dHUGC9
34 Oregon State University Office of Student Life, “Human Services Resource Center,” http://
studentlife.oregonstate.edu/hsrc.
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