It was a Friday afternoon and several students filled The Campus Kitchen, volunteering their time to help prepare meals for those in need.\u00a0 One of them was Awilda Pomales-Diaz \u201918 who was busy carving a donated ham.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople deserve good food and it makes me feel better helping to provide food to people who can\u2019t do it themselves,\u201d said Pomales-Diaz. \u201cPlus I like being with other people who also want to do this out of their own hearts \u2014 it\u2019s good to surround yourself with those kinds of people.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Campus Kitchen, which repurposes extra unused food into nutritious meals for the hungry, recently celebrated its one-year anniversary. Since the kitchen opened its doors on September 11, 2014, it has already had more than 200 volunteers, provided more than 10,000 meals and has helped countless of people throughout the local community.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne in six Americans struggle with hunger, so we are trying to make a difference in the lives of those in our community,\u201d said Erich Sekel, associate director of campus ministry for community service. \u201cThere\u2019s nothing better than watching students put together meals with food I know would have been wasted and then thinking about the people we will feed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sekel recalled their first shift when Sekel and eight student volunteers received 150 boxed lunches from Sodexo that were left over from a conference, which they organized into congregate meals.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter we delivered the meals, the students were so happy and I was relieved our first shift had gone so well,\u201d added Sekel. \u201cJust like that we were an official campus kitchen.\u201d<\/p>\n
The original plan was to make 50 meals a week, but Sekel realized they could do much more and began reaching out to new clients who could benefit from the kitchen\u2019s services. Exactly one year later, The Campus Kitchen has made 10,113 meals, which go to about 30 individual homes as well as shelters and low-income housing organizations such as Magnificat House, Hope House, Hudson County Self Help Center and Saint Lucy\u2019s Shelter.<\/p>\n
And the kitchen is continuing to expand. This year, it is making about 400 meals a week and is working toward serving and sharing meals with their clients, rather than strictly delivering them.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe hope to continue reclaiming wasted food, but expand our services to go beyond simply feeding the hungry,\u201d explained Sekel. \u201cWe hope to address the root causes of hunger and work to improve the lives of our clients.\u201d<\/p>\n
Like many of The Campus Kitchen\u2019s volunteers, Elizabeth Steillinghagan \u201918 was excited about the kitchen\u2019s expansion.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe first thing I did when I got to Â鶹ÊÓƵ\u2019s was get involved with The Campus Kitchen and it\u2019s just been the coolest thing,\u201d said the psychology major. \u201cIt\u2019s cooking food, which is fun, and getting to see and know the people who I am helping.\u201d<\/p>\n
Newstein Chang \u201919 was also there that day to offer his help. Once he heard about The Campus Kitchen during Peacock Prep Day, he was inspired to help the cause.<\/p>\n
\u201cTaking unused food and providing it to people was very eye-opening to me,\u201d added Chang. \u201cI think it\u2019s great \u2014 it makes full use of the resources we have.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t\t