Let Nothing Be Wasted

JMU food is good. Good enough to be ranked #5 in the Princeton Review. Staff and students eat a lot of it, too.

But what happens when there’s too much food to be consumed before it goes bad? Dining Services is one step ahead of those of us wondering this exact question- they have partnered with the Food Donation Connection to create an initiative to “let nothing be wasted.”

            This initiative is just over a year old, and already 8,500 pounds of prepared food have been donated to the Salvation Army’s Hope for Homeless shelter located here in Harrisonburg.

            This “Let Nothing Be Wasted” initiative came about after a pilot program in 2011 where JMU Dining Services partnered with the Food Donation Connection (FDC) with the common goal of donating prepared, unserved, wholesome food to those in need in the community.

            “This program has a direct, meaningful impact to those in the area who suffer from homelessness or food insecurity issues,” JMU Dining Services assistant food service director Dwight Campbell said.

            The program officially began at several dining locations at JMU in March 2011.

“Through June that year, we donated more than 3,000 pounds of food, which is the equivalent to feeding 635 people for a day or a family of 4 for 159 days,” JMU Dining Services marketing manager Angela Ritchie said. “According to a USDA study, the average amount of food consumed per person per day is 4.7 pounds.”

            “The community realizes a direct benefit from the donations,” Campbell said.

With the alternative to food donation programs being sending food waste to landfills, which would harm the community, there is more reason to be involved to better our community and its environmentally friendly practices when it comes to food.

“While we strive to be as efficient as possible, there is always room for improvement in any operation,” Campbell said. “The donation program actually helps us see where common types of food are overproduced allowing the kitchens to modify their production levels, directly minimizing excess food production.”

All dining locations on campus have been participating in this program as of fall 2011. The amount of food donated varies each week, with some locations sometimes having no food to donate while others have many foods to donate.

“I’ve always wondered what happened to the food we didn’t eat, and I’m so glad that this initiative exists and is working to do something good for JMU and for Harrisonburg too,” sophomore psychology student Kenleigh Prendergast said.

There is a set process in place for how to manage the food that is donated.

“The food is inventoried, bagged, labeled, and frozen on campus and then picked up by the Salvation Army, through an agreement with FDC,” Ritchie said.

While the Salvation Army is the main recipient of the surplus food from JMU, food that goes beyond what they can use is passed on to other area service agencies involved in the FDC program.

This program, and the Food Donation Connection organization that provides it, goes beyond the contributions of JMU.

The FDC works with food service companies across the country to provide a socially responsible alternative to discarding wholesome food. It was founded in 1992, a year that many of JMU’s students were born, and has coordinated the donation of more than 164 million pounds of quality prepared food since then.

So, rest assured, JMU community, that food that you can’t bear to eat at the dining locations will end up feeding those who need it in the community around us. Overproduction of food happens, but “Let Nothing Be Wasted” really is working hard to save whatever can be saved to eliminate waste and feed our community.