Every day after Usdan, Pi Café, and Summerfields close their doors to ravenous Wesleyanites, two students swoop in and save uneaten sandwiches, pizza, and salads from their otherwise inevitable fate in the bowels of trashcans and landfills. They transport the leftover food out of the realm of meal swipes and points to a world where the location of one’s next meal is not always certain.
The students are members of the Office of Community Service Food Rescue Program, which works to alleviate food insecurity issues in the local community and to reduce the amount of waste that the University produces. The program is part of an umbrella organization, Hunger and Homelessness, which also includes Bread Salvage and Habitat for Humanity on campus. According to Food Rescue Coordinator Catherine Marquez ’16, the program has a community partnership with the Eddy Shelter in Middletown.
There are two Food Rescue shifts each day of the week: one to Usdan at 8 p.m. and another to Pi Café and Summerfields at 9 p.m. Wesleyan student volunteers package the excess food in catering trays in each kitchen. They then drive the trays themselves to the Eddy Shelter, which is located on the Connecticut Valley Hospital grounds, about a five-minute drive from campus.
According to Marquez, the University started Food Rescue about six years ago, and it has always been run by student volunteers. Originally, the group only rescued food from Usdan, but now it covers Pi Café and Summerfields as well.
Until recently, food laws prohibited Food Rescue from taking many uneaten goods. However, recent law changes protect restaurants and food services that donate their extra food, Marquez explained.
Marquez said she was encouraged to apply for the coordinator position at Food Rescue after volunteering at St. Vincent de Paul’s Soup Kitchen on Main Street and exploring her interest in hunger issues by getting to know the people affected by the program first-hand.
“One of my favorite aspects of rescuing food is the interaction with the residents at the shelter, both at our community dinners as well as when I drop off the food,” she said. “Talking to them reminds me how I take basic amenities for granted and how easily the inequitable distribution of resources can foster this dichotomy where just five minutes from a community of individuals with no reliable source of food or shelter, pounds and pounds of food get thrown away on a daily basis.”
Dat Vu ’15, who has volunteered for Food Rescue for the past two semesters, said he joined the organization because he was disgusted by how much food the campus wastes.
“I worked in the dining hall during my first two years, and I saw lots of food wasted everyday—not just leftovers from the students, but also the untouched dishes,” he said.
Vu said that he is impressed by Food Rescue because it approached the food waste issue directly. As part of his shift, Vu and his co-rescuer pick up leftover sandwiches, bagels, and salads from Pi Café every Sunday evening and drop them off at the Eddy Shelter.
Food Rescue also holds a community dinner at the shelter, where volunteers meet and talk with the residents. Vu noted that through volunteering for the program he has learned about the larger issues of food availability and security in the Middletown community.
“The whole experience makes me feel more connected to the local community, and I am glad not to see all the food flushed down the drain,” he said.
Similar to Vu, Lili Kadets ’17 joined Food Rescue during her first semester on campus because of her passion for reducing waste on campus.
“It’s incredible how much food we waste on a daily basis,” Kadets said. “I was—and still am—really passionate about the subject.”
In her high school sustainability class, Kadets spent a lot of time studying food waste, and she created a website to help educate people on how to reduce personal waste.
“I thought [volunteering with Food Rescue] was a really cool way to get involved and stay connected to something I’ve been studying,” she said.
Like Vu, Kadets and her co-rescuer go to Pi Café and Summerfields directly after they close on Tuesday evenings and pick up the excess pastries and unserved food.
“Even if it’s only a couple of trays of food, we can still make a small dent,” Kadets said. “It’s also nice to know that the food we’re not eating can benefit people who need it. It’s all about redistribution.”
no reliable source of food or shelter, pounds and pounds of food get thrown away on a daily basis.”
Dat Vu ’15, who has volunteered for Food Rescue for the past two semesters, said he joined the organization because he was disgusted by how much food the campus wastes.
“I worked in the dining hall during my first two years, and I saw lots of food wasted everyday—not just leftovers from the students, but also the untouched dishes,” he said.
Vu said that he is impressed by Food Rescue because it approached the food waste issue directly. As part of his shift, Vu and his co-rescuer pick up leftover sandwiches, bagels, and salads from Pi Café every Sunday evening and drop them off at the Eddy Shelter.
Food Rescue also holds a community dinner at the shelter, where volunteers meet and talk with the residents. Vu noted that through volunteering for the program he has learned about the larger issues of food availability and security in the Middletown community.
“The whole experience makes me feel more connected to the local community, and I am glad not to see all the food flushed down the drain,” he said.
Similar to Vu, Lili Kadets ’17 joined Food Rescue during her first semester on campus because of her passion for reducing waste on campus.
“It’s incredible how much food we waste on a daily basis,” Kadets said. “I was—and still am—really passionate about the subject.”
In her high school sustainability class, Kadets spent a lot of time studying food waste, and she created a website to help educate people on how to reduce personal waste.
“I thought [volunteering with Food Rescue] was a really cool way to get involved and stay connected to something I’ve been studying,” she said.
Like Vu, Kadets and her co-rescuer go to Pi Café and Summerfields directly after they close on Tuesday evenings and pick up the excess pastries and unserved food.
“Even if it’s only a couple of trays of food, we can still make a small dent,” Kadets said. “It’s also nice to know that the food we’re not eating can benefit people who need it. It’s all about redistribution.”