Mund Gives Back

Abstract:

Many students attending Lebanon Valley College consume less than what they serve themselves on their plates when eating in the Mund cafeteria.  When disposing of their food, cafeteria workers have to throw out hundreds of pounds of food a week.  Accumulatively, food waste is becoming a pressing problem at Lebanon Valley.  This essay will provide an in-depth exposition of the problem of food waste at LVC, as well as a proposal in eliminating food waste by the donation of extra food to local food shelters in Pennsylvania.  This proposal will be the basis of a project that will benefit surrounding communities with food shortages in homes.

Food shortages in the United States are becoming unrelenting problems that many are attempting to resolve.  It is happening within middle and lower class communities in every state.  Hundreds of thousands of charities and projects in the US have been and are being designed to fix this issue as much as possible. These projects include small acts of kindness such as bake sales and spare-change projects to help fund for local food pantries, to relays and thons in large communities to raise money or donate to families in need.  Missions such as these require an extensive amount of planning and cooperation by participants.  At Lebanon Valley College, a food donation project could be possible with the help of students willing to volunteer their time and efforts.  A beneficial method in pursuing this mission would be to use the wasted food that is still edible that students leave in the Mund cafeteria.  With the participation of LVC students and the local food shelters near LVC, the wasted food in Mund can become a purpose instead to help those in need.  The main food shelters that LVC would be in alliance with are the Lebanon County Christian Ministries and the Palmyra Area Cooperating Churches Caring Cupboard, both of which are targeted at aiding families that have a shortage in food supply in their homes.

Starting this donation project involves a generous amount of cooperation from volunteers.  In order to begin this project, the first step would be to gain approval from any staff, authoritative faculty, and of course, the president of the college.  Authoritative faculty would include the dean, head of humanities, and the head of the Mund cafeteria staff.  Once approval has been met, the word must get out for this mission and students must advertise of the project.  Students could reserve a table outside of the Mund cafeteria and advertise with banners on their table.  They could also design flyers to hang around the campus to get the word out and possibly get an advertisement approved for the LVC homepage.  If enough students take interest and sign up to be apart of this project, then the students can further set up a schedule for volunteers that will help cafeteria workers take inventory of the leftover food and managing what food is to be saved.  They can volunteer for an hour with a friend or two and work with the cafeteria staff that would handle the remaining edible food.  Additionally, students can set up schedules for  “shipping” the food to the shelters, sorting out who goes when on what day.  The participation that willing students would give could count for community service hours, if the LVC authorities that approve this project permit it.

With these requirements being said, this food donation scheme requires specific materials.  The first piece of material needed is a write up for the project that would be turned in to the authoritative figures of LVC to gain approval.  After (and if) approval is gained, then students can begin gathering physical materials such as a table to put outside of the cafeteria from the information desk and poster paper and art supplies to create the banners for the table to advertise.  Students will also need to get art supplies to create flyers if they do not want to waste the ink in the campus printers.  For the actual task of packaging the food, participants will need to obtain at least two hundred empty cardboard boxes and duct tape for to start off with.  Shipping the food also requires large cars like trucks or vans and gas money to bring the food to Lebanon and Palmyra.

There have been other college projects that are similar to this scheme.  In October 2001, Penn State Law established an organization entitled “Project S.T.A.F.F.” – Students Taking Action For the Future.  It is an organization designed to provide Penn State students opportunities as well as awareness regarding community service.  The project includes activities such as a Chili Cook-Off, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Sports Buddies, and participation with the American Red Cross blood drives and Habitat for Humanity.  The activity in Project S.T.A.F.F. that resembles the potential Lebanon Valley College food donation project is the Soup Kitchen activity.  Penn State Law students visit the local Salvation Army where they “set up, prepare and serve food to underprivileged persons” (Project).  The project is a successful, ongoing community service act that Penn State Law has supported since its establishment.

In order to get the potential food donation project proposal out to other Lebanon Valley College students, the participating students will use the power of social media.  Students can use Twitter and Facebook to promote the project.  On Facebook, the participants can create an event to invite others to an introductory meeting about the project.  This way, even those that are not willing to participate are aware of the project and are further aware of the growing “wasted food” issue.  Students can also use the very popular hashtag to promote this project, for example tweeting “If you want to eliminate food waste at LVC, come to Mund to sign up for the cause! #MundGivesBack.”  Another way of using social media to promote this cause is the use of Instagram.  Participants can post pictures of the leftover food from Mund that will be packaged to target the guilt side of advertising.  This would make some students at LVC feel a bit of remorse, but in return would be aware that maybe they should finish their meals.  Students can also post pictures of each other packaging the food, distributing the food at the food pantries, and even signing up for the scheduling.  The social media aspect of the project would be a heavily useful tool in getting the word out about the project and raising awareness to other LVC students.

Lebanon Valley College has all of the materials to make a difference in food shortages within the local areas.  The main cafeteria at LVC, Mund Center, witnesses an extensive amount of food waste that is simply unacceptable.  With the help of active LVC students, food shelters such as Lebanon County Christian Ministries and the Palmyra Area Cooperating Churches Caring Cupboard can receive a large surplus of donated food for underprivileged families.  Through social media, students can promote this project, addressing it as “Mund Gives Back,” by posting pictures, encouraging others to join the project, and hashtagging #MundGivesBack.  It is a practical method for LVC students to not only gain community service hours, but to also make a difference in the local community, which is why a grant from the authoritative figures at LVCS should be provided for the LVC students that would start this project to pay for the physical materials mentioned.  Food shortages in any community are not acceptable among any standards.  Lebanon Valley College should help make this issue a thing of the past in the surrounding areas.

Works Cited

“Lebanon County Christian Ministries.” Lebanon County Christian Ministries. Web. <http://www.lccm.us/?i=15567&gt;.

“Palmyra Area Cooperating Churches.” Palmyra Area Cooperating Churches. Web. <http://www.paccministry.org/caring.htm&gt;.

“Project S.T.A.F.F.” Penn State Law. Web. <https://law.psu.edu/about-us/student-life/student-organizations/project-staff&gt;.