St. Cloud State University Launches New Food Insecurity Program

ST. CLOUD -- A new food initiative is set to launch this fall at St. Cloud State University.

Chartwells, the campus food service provider, is rolling out their Food Insecurity Program to help students who may be concerned where their next meal will come from.

As many as 40% of students across the United States are considered food insecure.

Nick Richard-Hoffman is the Director of Marketing for Chartwells. He says while the program is geared towards students dealing with food insecurity, they will make an exception for students who have fallen on hard times.

If you are down on your luck, lost your wallet and need some food come to Garvey and we will help you out. This isn't just for the Food Insecure, while that is our main focus for the program, but we want all students to feel like this is a place they can come and get food no matter what.

All students in the program will remain anonymous from their peers. Students can simply sign up for alerts via their phone or email, letting them know when meals are available in Garvey Commons.

Richard-Hoffman says they will be able to monitor who is using the meals to make sure students are not taking advantage of the program.

The students who are food insecure we can see if they are using it a lot and that it's something they need. But if we see someone using three meals a day, while also buying their own meal plans, and using this program as a free meal because they don't want to pay we will be able to notice that.

He says often times each semester students find they don't use all of the meals on their Husky Block Plans and remaining meals go to waste. He says if students feel inclined they can donate their remaining meals to the Food Insecurity Program to bank for food insecure students the future.

The goal of the program is to reduce food waste and food insecurity on campus.

The program will officially go live on August 22nd.