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Group uses extra food from dining centers

By Mike Bontrager

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Students often have elaborate vacation plans for spring break, but Sylvia Niccum already had a plan in place to help the community.

Niccum, Olathe senior, founded Daily Bread in October 2008, the first food recovery program at the University.

Daily Bread is a group of volunteers who collect bread and produce that the KU Dining Services’ food centers don’t use during winter, spring and summer break. The food is collected and then donated to the Salvation Army, 946 New Hampshire St., and the Lawrence Interdenominational Nutrition Kitchen, 221 W. 10th St.

Niccum said the idea for Daily Bread occurred after she realized how much food was going to waste at the University. She researched other food recovery programs and presented KU Dining Services with a proposal for Daily Bread last September.

Interested in volunteering with Daily Bread?

Attend the group’s next meeting

When: March 26

Time: 7 p.m.

Where: The Kansas Union

Room: Alcove A

Contact Sylvia Niccum at sylvia@ku.edu with any questions.

She said she found about a dozen volunteers through the Center for Community Outreach for pick-ups during both winter and spring break. Volunteers are required to participate in only one pick-up but can volunteer as many times as they want. The volunteers collect the food and transport it in their own cars to the Salvation Army and L.I.N.K. She said the difficulty of tracking students’ travel plans meant that KU Dining Services had leftover food.

“I tried to make it as easy as possible for them,” Niccum said. “If you guys get it ready, I’ll get volunteers through CCO.”

Nona Golledge, director of KU Dining Services, said Daily Bread was a great opportunity for KU Dining Services, the Salvation Army and L.I.N.K.

“We’re not quite sure how many students are going to be leaving, at what rate, before we do close down,” Golledge said. “It just gives us an opportunity to take those products that won’t last through that extended break period and use them in a way that’s helpful to others.”

Golledge said KU Dining Services used a menu management program to track what to order and keep the inventory as low as possible.

“Prior to extended break periods, the largest dining operations on campus evaluate which perishable products will not make it through an extended break,” Golledge said. “These items include produce — tomatoes, lettuce, cucumbers, et cetera, and bread — buns, sandwich slices.”

Golledge said each location typically donates between one to three cases of these products to Daily Bread.

Greg Moore, L.I.N.K. coordinator, said food recovery programs were important now because of the tightening economy.

“Things are getting so expensive,” Moore said. “This is open to anybody; it’s for anybody.”

L.I.N.K. serves more than 100 meals each Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, all with donated food. The organization provided 3,948 meals in January and 2,774 meals in February this year.

“We have different churches and different civic groups and they prepare it all and they bring it in here,” Moore said. “It just depends on how much extra they have.”

Moore said that with the exception of one employee the organization was run by volunteers.

Amanda McIntosh, December 2008 graduate, said she decided to volunteer because of her experience while living in a scholarship hall.

“I remember moving out of the scholarship hall my freshman year and seeing the sheer amounts of edible produce and non-perishable items taken to the dumpster,” McIntosh said. “Daily Bread seemed like such a simple answer for two problems: incredible waste and incredible need.”

McIntosh said she found the experience rewarding.

“It takes no more than an hour of your time,” McIntosh said. “It makes quite an impact when you pack your car with food and realize that if this program had not been in place, no one would have been able to use it.”

Andrew Stanley, Overland Park senior and volunteer for Daily Bread, said the program had more importance than just recycling food.

“It not only provides an excellent outlet for the otherwise wasted food,” Stanley said. “It raises homelessness awareness and promotes community involvement.”

Niccum said the program would continue to take place during breaks, but she hoped the program would expand.

“I’m hoping that they’ll maybe start donating more often,” Niccum said. “Maybe like once a month, maybe even more than bread and produce in the future.”

Niccum said more activity would depend upon how many participants assisted with the progam.

— — Edited by Chris Horn

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