Have you ever wondered to yourself what Campion does with all the extra food at the end of the day? Unfortunately, most of it goes to waste. Four women of the class of 2015, however, are helping to change this. These women have started and are running the Food Recovery Network of SJU. I had the privilege to sit down with the founders: Danielle Baumann, Catie Bieler, Alexis Criso and Colleen Fallon to learn more about the FRN.
HC- How did you come up with idea of the Food Recovery Network?
FRN- Food Recovery Network is actually a huge nonprofit organization around the country. It was started at the University of Maryland and now over forty universities have it on their own campuses. We saw an article over winter break last year about it, and thought it would work well on Hawk Hill. We reached out to SJU immediately to get the ball rolling. We really wanted to start it on campus. It took about 8 months to officially get approval from SJU, Aramark and various other components, but we are now a recognized organization on campus.
HC- What was the process like getting this started?
FRN- It was actually very hard. In the beginning, we essentially got a big no right from the start. It was frustrating, but we continued to work. Beth Ford and Dr. McCain from SJU really helped us make plans and work things out. We had to do multiple presentations to SJU, Aramark Corporation in the city, and a lot more. The biggest part was making sure Aramark was going to be protected throughout the process and proving that. We researched and researched and researched! Details you would never expect where very important, like what we would be wearing while getting the food and such.
HC- Where are you taking the food now?
FRN- A few different places. We have gone to Our Brothers Place and the Bethesda Project. We want to expand and take food to more places various times a week. Right now we can only do it once a week because we are still growing. We want to even reach out to local restaurants and try to start recovering their extra food.
HC- How do you get the food there?
FRN- We use our own cars. We just love the organization and we support it anyway we can. It is very worth it to us. We’ve gotten huge thanks from the places we have already supplied.
HC- Future hopes for FRN at SJU?
FRN- More students involved! We want lots of kids to volunteer because they will love it.We got over 30 pounds of food the first time we delivered. The places are very thankful for the food because it is feeding tons of people. We want to build our trust with Aramark and become a well known group on campus.
Want to get involved with FRN at SJU? Find them here:
Email: frn.sju@gmail.com
HC xo,
Kate