(Dean & Bryan, respectively)
Name: Dean
Year: Junior
Major: Economics
Hometown: Boca Raton, FL
Name: Bryan
Year: Junior
Major: Manufacturing and Design Engineering
Hometown: Princeton, NJ
Remember when you realize it is Saturday night and your points are going to disappear unless you buy completely unnecessary snacks from the local C-store? Well…problem fixed. Dean and Bryan are co-founders of Points for a Purpose here at Northwestern, a super easy way to donate your extra points at the end of each quarter to those who need it! So don’t buy that bag of chips and nacho cheese that you really don’t even want and grosses your roommate our; instead, use those points…for a purpose. I absolutely loved talking and getting to know these guys, and I’m sure you all will too!
For those who don’t know, what exactly is Points for a Purpose?
Dean: Points for a Purpose is an organization, which allows students to donate their left over meal points during the final two weeks of each quarter. During reading week and finals week, students on the meal plan can go to any C-store (Norris, Lisa’s, ect.) and if they have left over meal points, they tell the cashier they would like to donate them to Points for a Purpose. At the end of those two weeks, we take the money and give it to Campus Kitchens, who buys food, packages it, and distributes it to those who need it across Evanston.
Bryan: One of our missions was definitely to highlight ‘food insecurity’ in the area that a lot of college students don’t recognize exists. Food insecurity: the FDA recently changed the word we use from ‘hunger’ to ‘insecurity’. This is because hunger insinuates malnutrition for those that are underweight, whereas ‘insecurity’ is less restrictive and applies to those who may not be underweight, but still cannot put food on their table.
Dean: We raised around $4,500 and hopefully we will get more this year.
Bryan: We were really excited at how passionate people were about this cause.
How did you guys come up with this idea?
Dean: So freshman year, we had a very good friend on the block plan and she was leaving early and barely used the block plan. She left me with her wildcard, essentially of meals and points totaling about 400 dollars. So over the next two weeks, I was trying to find ways to use this money around campus. I was literally offering to buy people food because I had no idea how to use all the money.
Bryan: Literally standing at the register and saying, “do you want me to pay for that? Do you want more Ben& Jerry’s? Go pick out a few more!” (where was I when they were doing this…?)
Dean: So Bryan and I were talking about it and thought there had to be a better way to do this; it was super inefficient. I didn’t want this food let alone eat it so we decided that when we got back from summer sophomore year, we would try to do something about it.
Bryan: Our original thoughts were a bit different than what actually came out of it. But we realized that food waste was something that was actually happening so commonly among students, and we recognized that as a problem. We were willing to really reach out to dining services and see what we could do about it.
How do you hope to develop this program in the future?
Dean: Something we’re working on right now is introducing a community service aspect about it. We have a whole team now and a whole service community. We are trying to find a place right now to consistently volunteer and be a huge help to them. That will probably be some kind of soup kitchen. We also want to help campus kitchens with the packaging and delivering of food, so this Thanksgiving, the money we raised from spring quarter will go to help with their huge food drive.
Bryan: Another aspect of the organization is the more educational component. As of right now most of the facts and meaning that we are trying to get out of it is mostly via social media. But really being able to develop some events that will allow Northwestern students to see the presence of food insecurity is something we hope to do.
What made you passionate about this and how do you hope to translate this into your lives in the future?
Bryan: For me, there was nothing in particular about food insecurity, but in high school I worked a lot with people who are under-privileged, especially children, at Trenton. It made me realized how, often times, people become insular and don’t realize their extent of their surroundings and that’s something I don’t think Northwestern students realize either.
Dean: I think what made me passionate about this is that there are a lot of crazy world issues out there that are ridiculous when you think about them, like poverty, war. But hunger is this this thing where you have food on one side being thrown away and people on the other side who need it. Really it is just a matter of moving the food to those who need it; it seems like a simple fix. It seems like something worth pursuing and we, as idealistic college students, can help out with.
Bryan: I think it was definitely the opportunity to create some sort of impact and help people who we can easily help. One of the great things about Points for a Purpose is how easy it is for people to become involved with. The swipe of the wildcard is literally all the involvement needed. We understand that college students are busy, but we believe that even the most busy college students can do and help out.
Dean: It doesn’t demand time or money. It made me realize I need some kind of social justice, civic engagement commitment in my life to really have some fulfillment. In addition to a job, I need to be working not just for myself.
Bryan: I love my classes and what I’m studying, and I don’t think Points for a Purpose has directly impacted what I want to do after college, but I hope to find a place to work after college that will allow me to do what I want to while also having service opportunities to really connect to the community where I am located.
What else are you guys involved in on campus?
Bryan: I am involved in Sigma Chi and I work in a McCormick lab doing design research. Also, the job hunt…(we feel you, Bryan)
Dean: I would have a much longer list last year, but right now I am a FUP counselor and a member of sigma chi.
Dean: If you had to choose one word to define Bryan, what would it be?
Bryan: Be careful.
Dean: He’s just adorable.
Bryan: Good thing it’s only girls reading this.
Dean: He’s adorable because he is such a caring person and usually thinks of others before himself. And also looks wise, I hope there’s a picture on this article so readers can see for themselves.
Bryan: Do you have an embarrassing story about Dean?
Dean: All I can think of is when I should have been wearing pants and I wasn’t, and you took advantage to send pictures to people.
Bryan: So basically we were hanging out right here. I should tell you that we are a part of a larger organization called Swipes for the Homeless and we are close with the executive director in LA. So it was on Rosh Hashanah, and Dean was sitting in the chair you are in with a metal bowl on his head shot in hand while wearing a Swipes for the Homeless shirt. I told him, “I’m gunna send this to Rachel” and he thought we were talking about our friend Rachel, and I was talking about the Swipes for the Homeless Rachel. So she responded…
Dean: It wasn’t until she responded that I realized it was the wrong Rachel.
Bryan: Yeah, I think she enjoyed it (he said hesitantly) but I think she was a little taken aback, and now she has permanent access to that photo. Like Dean was saying before, Dean doesn’t wear pants usually. He also doesn’t have pants on right now. If he didn’t have to he wouldn’t be right now.
Dean: Yeah, the reader should know I don’t usually wear pants, but I am wearing pants right now
(He was, thank God… just to let you all know…)
Bryan: But Dean is also adorable.
What has been your favorite part of working together?
Bryan: Dean and I have very different leadership styles and style of everything. So we really compliment each other well. I’m always the person to make sure we stay on track; I am much more strategic. Dean is always the person that makes sure we all have fun.
Dean: Essentially, Bryan is the person who makes sure the organization runs, and without him I wouldn’t have been able to do any of this. I guess I am more idealistic and try to keep everyone happy. If we ever have different ideas, both of us are very willing to hear the other side and why that might be a better idea than our own. We compromise accordingly, which I think is pretty rare.
Bryan: Sometimes you’re wrong and sometimes I’m wrong.
Dean: Most of the time I’m wrong…
Bryan: But well admit that if we need to.
CHECK OUT& LIKE THEIR FACEBOOK PAGE! LET’S GET PUMPED TO DONATE POINTS THIS READING & FINALS WEEK!
https://www.facebook.com/pointsforapurpose