Shenandoah University is one of four institutions nationwide competing in a video competition to secure a $5,000 grant through the Campus Kitchens Project, a national organization that empowers student volunteers to fight hunger in their communities.
The competition, sponsored by the Sodexo Foundation, runs from noon (ET) Monday, March 2, through 11:59 a.m. (ET) Monday, March 9; during that time, individuals can vote for the university’s video once per device per 24 hour period at http://www.campuskitchens.org/2015/02/shenandoah-university/.
“Liking,” “tweeting” and “sharing” on social media from the university’s video page are great, but please note that the only way to vote for Shenandoah’s video is to click on the gray and orange “Vote Now” button.
The best way for the Shenandoah University community to vote is on a mobile device, but be sure to disconnect your wifi before voting; you must disconnect from the university’s wifi to ensure your vote counts. The only other way to ensure your vote counts is to vote via an off-campus Internet connection. Voting while connected to the Shenandoah University campus network may result in your vote being voided.
Shenandoah’s competition includes Virginia Tech (Blacksburg, Virginia), Merrimack College (North Andover, Massachusetts) and the University of Houston (Houston, Texas). View the overall leaderboard at http://www.campuskitchens.org/sodexo.
The top three schools with the most votes at the end of the voting period will win a $5,000 grant sponsored by Sodexo Foundation to launch their own Campus Kitchen, providing free, healthful meals to those in need by using donated food that would otherwise go to waste.
In order to qualify as a finalist for the competition, students from across the country submitted a video explaining why their community would benefit from a Campus Kitchen. Freshman nursing major Shelby Ellis and Center for Public Service and Scholarship Graduate Fellow and Shenandoah University graduate student Lauren Flanigan spearheaded the video project for Shenandoah.
“As chair of Alpha Kappa Psi’s Service Committee, I wanted to find a volunteering project for AKPsi that would aid the Winchester community,” said Ellis. “It is the least we can do, considering Winchester welcomes Shenandoah students into their community while we attend college. Campus Kitchens at Shenandoah University will assist in the fight against food insecurities of many low income families in the surrounding area. This grant will assist in launching our Campus Kitchens Chapter here at Shenandoah in order for us to start working within the community immediately.”
Center for Public Service and Scholarship Director Karen Schultz, Ph.D., and Dining Services General Manager Peter Labrecque serve as sponsors of the Shenandoah project.
“We are thrilled that Shenandoah University’s video was chosen to be part of this contest,” said Labrecque. “Our team of students is anxious to get the Shenandoah University Campus Kitchens project off the ground and provide much-needed assistance and outreach to the communities that surround the university. To receive this prestigious grant would greatly increase our chance of success with this project.”
In addition to recovering food that would have gone to waste on campus and providing more meals in their communities, student-led Campus Kitchen chapters create replicable programs that address the root causes of hunger specific to their community.
At each of the 42 Campus Kitchens nationwide, students lead efforts to combat food waste and hunger by collecting surplus food from on-campus dining halls, community gardens, restaurants, and grocery stores and transforming it into healthy meals. In the last academic year, Campus Kitchens across the country rescued more than 823,549 pounds of food and served 293,963 meals to 12,006 clients.
Since 2001, Sodexo and Sodexo Foundation have supported The Campus Kitchens Project in its mission to share high school and college on-campus kitchen space, recover surplus food from cafeterias and empower student volunteers to prepare and deliver meals to millions of community members.