Student-Led Nonprofit Fighting Hunger and Food Waste Launches USU Chapter

Utah State University joins The Campus Kitchens Project, the leading national nonprofit empowering students to fight hunger and food waste, with the official launch of its own Campus Kitchen. The student-led organization will turn wasted food into healthy, balanced meals for residents of Logan. With the launch of the program, the Campus Kitchen at Utah State University will become the 66th Campus Kitchen to join the national network. A public ribbon-cutting event will be held Friday, Nov. 16, at 11:30 a.m., on the main floor of the Taggart Student Center (TSC) by the HUB main entrance on the Logan campus. 

Since its founding, student volunteers with The Campus Kitchens Project have teamed up with on-campus dining providers and cultivated local food recovery partnerships that help them prepare healthy, balanced meals for those in need. Students prepare these meals in cafeteria kitchens during off-hours, and then deliver them to nearby community partners, such as afterschool programs and senior centers. At Campus Kitchens across the country, students develop additional programming that goes beyond serving meals to help address systemic barriers that create hunger in the first place. 

The Campus Kitchen at Utah State University will kick off by participating in holiday meal prep with the Loaves & Fishes Community Meal on November 16. CKUSU will operate in their designated kitchen on the USU campus where they will prepare meals with donated food to be delivered to local partners. Partners include the Student Nutrition Access Center at USU, the Cache Community Food Pantry in Logan, UT and the Loaves and Fishes Community Meals program at First Presbyterian Church. The Campus Kitchen at USU will receive support and food donations from USU’s Dining Services, Sweeto Burrito, Juniper Restaurant and Einstein Bros. Bagels. 

“The Center for Community Engagement is excited to have The Campus Kitchens Project as another way for USU students to become engaged to address hunger issues,” said Sean Damitz, director of USU’s Center for Community Engagement. 

The CCE houses the Val R. Christensen Service Center, the student-run organization that has been leading service efforts at USU since 1970.

“The Campus Kitchens Project is thrilled to launch our newest program at Utah State University,” said Dan Abrams, director of The Campus Kitchens Project. “Opening a kitchen in Logan will provide critical resources to the campus and community while preventing safe and wholesome food from ending up in a landfill. We look forward to supporting this program as it grows into the future.”

About The Campus Kitchens Project

Founded in 2001, The Campus Kitchens Project is the national program of renowned local nonprofit and social enterprise, DC Central Kitchen. On university and high school campuses across the country, students transform unus ed food from dining halls, grocery stores, restaurants and farmers’ markets into meals for their community. Because food alone will never end hunger, Campus Kitchens also develop innovative local solutions that go ‘beyond the meal’ and target hunger’s root causes. Running a Campus Kitchen builds leadership skills, offers entrepreneurial opportunities, and fosters personal and community relationships that students both use today and carry with them into future careers. To learn more about our work or bring The Campus Kitchens Project to your school, visit www.campuskitchens.org.