Sophomore heads initiative to begin Campus Kitchens

The Campus Kitchens Project is an organization that strives to fight hunger by creating meals from unserved college-cafeteria food and delivering the food to the community. \nSophomore Kelly Childs is heading this initiative to bring a Campus Kitchens location to Bloomington.\nChilds said she thinks colleges can use their food resources more effectively, so she has spent about two hours per week since March doing online research to work toward starting the organization. \nChilds is a transfer student from Wake Forest University, where she participated in its Campus Kitchens program, volunteering two days a week. When she decided to transfer to IU in the second semester of her freshman year, she contacted the organization’s national headquarters about making IU a partner school.\n“Will Clark, who is in charge of Campus Kitchens at Wake, gave me the information for national headquarters, and they were really excited about a new partner school,” Childs said.\nIn order to make IU a Campus Kitchens partner school, the students must have the University approve the plan, then apply to the Campus Kitchens national headquarters. Organizers are planning a meeting with Damon Sims, associate vice provost for Student Affairs, for the first week of October to discuss support from the administration or a partnership with a specific school on campus.\nIf the University agrees to make IU a Campus Kitchens location, a University representative will send in the application to the national headquarters and later work as a liaison between the organization’s national headquarters and the partner school. The earliest Campus Kitchens could begin cooking on campus is spring 2008, but this depends on IU’s application status at national headquarters and if the University approves the idea.\nTwelve campuses in the nation have Campus Kitchens locations, which is a part of The Campus Kitchens Project. The national headquarters, called DC Central Kitchen, is in Washington, D.C., and started delivering leftover food from restaurants to low-income people in the area in 1989.\nInstead of delivering restaurant-prepared food, the Campus Kitchens at IU would cook almost all meals from scratch seven days a week. The University decides where volunteers will cook meals, but after the location is established, they would cook in the same kitchen each day.\nAt other universities, volunteers cook in food labs, unused kitchens or in cafeteria kitchens after they are closed for the day. These designated kitchens let volunteers use the utensils, pots, pans and dishes as long as the students clean and do not break the cookware.\nAfter the meals are cooked and prepared, students carpool to deliver the food to the same few agencies every week.\n“Students personally deliver the meals so they can eat with the people and develop relationships,” Childs said. “It gives them something to look forward to each week.”\nEach campus first establishes where the need is in its community, then chooses the locations to deliver meals, providing prepared food to local agencies that are not already supported by other organizations.\n“CKP will give IU students a great way to get involved in the community and help those less fortunate,” said sophomore Tony Bowen, who is among the five students helping Childs to start IU’s chapter of Campus Kitchens.\nDC Central Kitchen gives any new partner schools approved for Campus Kitchens an annual budget and possible sub-grants. The organization is also supported by food and money donations from individuals or businesses. Childs thinks IU and the surrounding community can provide everything else the organization needs to begin on campus.\n“IU has the resources to support this if it comes here, and there are many opportunities to see this succeed,” Childs said. “Even though some people are already being taken care of, there are still lots of needy people in the area.”