Students working in Bemidji State University’s Sustainability Office have joined the Food Recovery Network, the country’s largest student-directed movement against hunger that aims to “change the norm from food waste to food recovery.”
Bemidji State’s food recovery initiative was started by Jordan Lutz, an environmental studies graduate student from Pinewood, Minn. During his frequent trips between Sattgast Hall and the Sustainability Office on BSU’s campus, he noticed the large number of disposable containers that accumulated in the university’s waste stream over the lunch hour.
Lutz was introduced to The Food Recovery Network by BSU Sustainability Coordinator Erika Bailey-Johnson, who learned of the organization at the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education conference. After researching the organization, Lutz made it known that he wanted to start a local chapter. "What’s truly amazing is how those around me helped make my desire a reality," he said.
Caitlin McClellan is a member of Aramark’s Dining Services Committee who also is on Student Senate and a student worker in the Sustainability Office. She presented Lutz’s idea to Ron McKinley, Aramark Food Service Director, and Gulsidel Velazquez Ayala, Aramark’s executive chef. Working together, they planned their first recovery effort to coincide with the start of BSU’s spring break – where they saved 95 pounds of food that would have gone to waste but, instead, was given to Community Table.
The donation went to Community Table, a volunteer-operated soup kitchen that is open four days a week in Bemidji’s Mt. Zion and United Methodist churches. George Stowe, Community Table’s kitchen coordinator, has used the donations to provide nutritious meals to the individuals who rely on the kitchen’s services.
"I am so very thankful for the people who made this collaboration possible. This initiative truly has been a joint effort, which makes it all the more rewarding." - Jordan Lutz
Lutz and the Sustainability Office hope to continue the relationships they have established with Community Table and prevent food waste by providing nutritious meals to the university’s neighbors.
