Jennifer Fu
Last semester, Sara Meadow (Sid Richardson ’19) was involved with Houston’s Second Servings, a charity dedicated to distributing food to those in need. Meadow works with Second Servings as a member of their student council, managing their social media and organizing various events to raise awareness for food poverty. She worked with Rice University Housing and Dining (H&D) meal plan administrator Julie Bogar to coordinate a leftover food donation to Sally's House with the Salvation Army through Second Servings.
While Meadow was attending a meeting in the H&D office, Bogar said she overheard her conversation. Intrigued, Bogar looked into Second Servings online and got in contact with their external contact liaison. Bogar was then able to organize a food donation of the leftovers at the end of the semester to Second Servings. Bogar said all food products like fruit, yogurt and unserved rations were donated. The food donation totaled 146 pounds.
Bogar said food inevitably is left over because serveries start closing in a staggered pattern at the end of the semester. However, she added the chefs take care to construct a menu and base rations in order to minimize on food loss, using data from student meal swipes. H&D publicity manager Susan Glenn said this data was particularly reliable for determining the number of students who usually go to each servery and the times of the week where they are most active. The chefs then use this data to devise a menu aimed at maximizing food usage efficiency.
Bogar stated this was the first time H&D worked with Second Servings, but they are looking forward to future cooperation and food donations.