X

SLU’s Campus Kitchen Project aided by grant

Posted 2/21/15

CANTON -— St. Lawrence University’s Campus Kitchen Project is one of seven chapters nationwide to benefit from a $150,000 grant. The grant was provided by Denver, Colo.-based CoBank. St. …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

SLU’s Campus Kitchen Project aided by grant

Posted

CANTON -— St. Lawrence University’s Campus Kitchen Project is one of seven chapters nationwide to benefit from a $150,000 grant.

The grant was provided by Denver, Colo.-based CoBank. St. Lawrence’s chapter will receive $5,000 for program development, which will be aimed at helping Canton-area children.

Katherine Brown, president of the Campus Kitchens Project at SLU, said that they have recently entered into a partnership with the Canton Central School District on a program called Golden Bear Packs. It provides school-age students who rely on free or reduced school-provided meals throughout the week with food for weekends.

“The main demographic that attends our weekly meal is senior citizens, while each week we usually serve less than five people under 50,” said Brown. “We are of course thrilled that we are reaching out to those in need. However, we saw this grant as an opportunity to extend our reach, specifically to food-insecure children in the Canton area. The grant money will allow us not only to continue forming community relationships but to also make a positive impact in the lives of local youths.”

St. Lawrence’s chapter relies on food donations that come mostly from the dining halls at St. Lawrence and SUNY Canton. CSAs (community-supported agriculture) and local farmers’ markets also supply some of the food that is served up to local residents.

SLU’s Campus Kitchen was recently selected as one of 10 in the nation to focus on senior hunger as part of a three-year, $650,000 grant from the AARP Foundation.

Campus Kitchens, founded in 2001, is a nationwide student-led effort to fight hunger and food waste by collecting extra food from on-campus dining halls, community gardens, restaurants and grocery stores and making it into healthy meals.

In the last academic year, Campus Kitchens nationwide collected more than 823,549 pounds of food and served 293,963 meals to 12,006 clients, the organization says. The organization has 42 affiliates nationwide.