After reading about the Food Recovery Network, Connor Holeman and Parker Wheat felt it was necessary to bring the organization to the university. The Food Recovery Network donates food that would be wasted from college campuses to community members in need.
Though Holeman, junior international studies and French major, and Wheat, a graduate integrated marketing and communications student, had never met before, they were united by a common goal to combat food waste on campus and hunger in the community. Both coincidentally contacted the Food Recovery Network at the same time.
“I worked at a restaurant for a couple years, so I’m no stranger to how much food is wasted everywhere,” Holeman said. “After eating on campus for a few years, it’s easy to see how much is thrown away. There’s no excuse for the huge amounts of food wasted each day on our campus. I definitely take for granted the surplus of food that is offered to us daily.”
According to their website, The Food Recovery Network has 170 chapters in 40 states. Since its founding in 2011, the almost completely student-led organization has recovered over 1,000,000 pounds of food and provided over 800,000 meals to those in need.The Food Recovery Network is now the largest student organization against food waste in America.
The new chapter at the university will be the first established in the state.
“Honestly, when I learned of the organization I was surprised to find that Mississippi has the highest rate of food insecurity in the country, yet no colleges or universities in the state had started a chapter of FRN,” Wheat said. “I am happy to be a part of something that will have such a positive impact on so many lives. It has been a lengthy process, but we would not have been able to accomplish anything without the help of so many people along the way.”
With the assistance of local non-profit organization More Than a Meal and the University’s dining services, new FRN chapter coordinator Maddie Cunningham now works to enact positive change.
“There’s a lot of food going to waste everyday on every college campus,” Cunningham said. “We think it’s important that we’re fighting food waste and hunger at the same time.”
A team of volunteers will transport packaged leftover food from the Rebel Market cafeteria to More Than a Meal every Tuesday for its weekly dinner for those in need. Holeman and Wheat are looking forward to the impact their partnership with the Food Recovery Network will have not only on campus, but also the entire city.
“It’s easy to stay in the Ole Miss campus bubble, but there are needs in the Oxford community, too,” Holeman said. “The mission of the Food Recovery Network is to reduce waste by providing food to those in need. Not only will the organization enhance the University’s sustainability efforts, but it will also give back to the community that Ole Miss calls home.”
