Annotated Bibliography

“About Us.” Student Food Co, SFCo, 2018.

https://studentfoodco.wixsite.com/studentfoodco/about_us

Student Food Co is a current student-run nonprofit at the University of Michigan

that sells fresh and affordable produce to students on campus twice a week. Their mission

is “ to make nutritious food accessible to all and to help the busy college student live

sustainably, no pressure added.” The creators of the nonprofit conducted a survey on

campus and found that 40% of students on campus were food insecure, largely due to

produce near campus being too expensive and grocery stores being difficult to reach

without a car.

The nonprofit has been around since 2012; however, as a student on campus I can

say the nonprofit is not very well known. While I believe this source is reliable and not

biased, I think there is still lots of room for improvement regarding the issue of student

food insecurity on campus, as it is still considered a problem 7 years after the start of this

project.

Blackwell, Deborah. “Students Package Unused Food for Distribution to Those in Need.”

Harvard Gazette, Harvard Gazette, 22 Nov. 2017.

https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2017/11/students-package-unused-food-for-

distribution-to-those-in-need/

Two times a week, Harvard University student volunteers help package surplus

food in the dining hall into individual meals to feed families in the area that experience

chronic hunger. The food they donate is frozen due to safety concerns. According to the

article, after every meal, at every dining hall at Harvard, there are about five pounds of
 food left over. This equates to each dining hall at Harvard having enough food left over

to package up to 75 individual meals each day.

While these statistics cannot be directly applied to Michigan’s dining halls,

Harvard’s program can inspire ways to make Michigan Kitchen a reality. For example,

the article mentions Harvard freezing the leftover food to prevent the food from going

bad. This is a smart idea that our nonprofit could use too to help pass the strict health

codes involving food. However, it does raise the questions where can we freeze the food

and how we can store it. We must also consider how to package the meals and how much

it will cost to get the supplies to package them. Finding and coordinating with both

volunteers and dining services is an additional concern that must be addressed. It may be

smart to begin this project with only one or two dining halls on campus to make it easier

to manage and handle. Even though the concept of donating surplus food in the dining

hall to food insecure students seems simple and straightforward, there are many logistics

that must be addressed to create a smooth operation.

Catherine Nouhan Daily Staff Reporter. “CSG Discusses Resolution to Create Subsidized Meal

Plans for Students.” The Michigan Daily, www.michigandaily.com/section/student-

government/csg-food-insecurity.

The article points out solutions that the Central Student Government for UM are

proposing and trying to create. The resolution proposed at the conference would be a

pilot program to combat food insecurity. They discussed how the program would allow

Pell Grant recipients to apply for a reduced meal plan through University dining halls.

Fifty Pell Grant students per semester would receive a subsidized meal plan and pay only

$7 per meal instead of the current rate of $16 a meal in the dining halls. This would be a
 great plan for affordable meals if it were offered to more people. A cap of fifty, however

temporary, cannot get the job done.

Cheeti, Rhea. “Campus Groups Work to Combat off-Campus Students' Food Insecurity

with an Emergency Meal Program.” The Michigan Daily, The Michigan Daily, 7 Mar.

2017, 8:41pm.https://www.michigandaily.com/section/student-government/central-

student-government-starts-emergency-meal-program-address-food

The emergency meal fund is another program on campus that is working to help

mitigate the issue of student food insecurity on campus. The meal program gives students

who are worried about food insecurity the ability to request six meals during the

semester. The hope is that having access to food ensures a student’s academic

performance is not deteriorating due to lack of food. While the program only solves

problems short term, it is a good start to resolving the issue of food insecurity, which

there is not sufficient data about at the University of Michigan.

Our nonprofit is a good next step in tackling the issue of student food insecurity.

Since it is difficult to seek out students who have food insecurity, providing the

opportunity to all students on campus to get free leftover dining hall meals is currently

the best possible way to reach as many students who are food insecure. Furthermore, the

program we are trying to set in place is a more sustainable solution to the problem on

campus.

Dubick, James, et al. “Hunger on Campus The Challenge of Food Insecurity for College

Students.” Hunger On Campus: The Challenge of Food Insecurity for College Students,

Oct. 2016. http://studentsagainsthunger.org/wp-

content/uploads/2016/10/Hunger_On_Campus.pdf
 The study shows that 48% of respondents (college students) reported food

insecurity in the last 30 days, 22% of whom have very low levels of food security which

qualifies them as hungry. 32% of those who reported food insecurity believe that hunger

or housing issues have impacted their educations (missing a class, dropping a class, etc).

Additionally, students who are employed, have a meal plan or seek other financial or

material help still experience food insecurity.

Although these statistics are not specific to the University of Michigan, they still

prove that food insecurity is a serious issue for many college students that must be

addressed.

Dubick, James, et al. “Hunger on Campus The Challenge of Food Insecurity for College

Students.” Hunger On Campus: The Challenge of Food Insecurity for College Students,

Oct. 2016.

The source has several recommendations that are typical of a student food

insecurity study, implementation of campus food pantries, food recovery programs,

improving access to benefits, and a unique one which struck my attention. It was a

system for dining center meal donations, where unused premiums on students meal plans,

in Michigan's case, Guest meals and Dining Dollars, can be donated to others that may be

in need, which could be incorporated in our nonprofit project. The research shows that

even a little participation from students in these programs can have a major impact on

social health and academic performance. Also, reducing the social stigma of receiving

free and reduced meals allows for students to be more comfortable in participating to

receive the help they need.

“Enrollment Reports.” Enrollment Reports | Office of the Registrar,

ro.umich.edu/reports/enrollment.

Using enrollment statistics provided by the University of Michigan, we can

estimate how many students actually have a dining hall plan, and estimate how much

each plan costs the University. In Fall 2018, there were 5,681 freshman-standing

students. Since almost all are, let’s assume they are required to have a Meal plan, which

costs at least $2265. This computes to a total cost of $12,867,465 for freshmen students

during the term. In the winter, there are 2,659 full-time students, coming out to a cost of

$6,022,635. Since other classes (about 26,000 students) are not required to purchase a

dining hall plan, we will have to estimate the proportion of them that purchase a dining

hall plan. For a safe estimate, let’s say that 3,500 non-freshmen purchase an unlimited

dining-hall plan per term, and an additional 1,500 purchase a block meal plan (750 – 55

Block, 500 – 80 Block, 250 – 125 Block. This comes out to a total cost of $9,117,500 per

term. Total cost for all students, then, comes out to $37,125,100. Now, compare this to

the University’s increase in net position in 2017, $1.3 billion. It is clear that the university

can provide one, $7 meal per day for students that cannot afford to purchase a meal plan

themselves. For the ~220 days that the Dining Halls are open, if 1,000 students utilized

our proposed solution, the total cost to the University (including labor, food costs,

maintenance) would be about $1,540,000.

Goldberg, Eleanor. “Why Restaurants Officially Have No Excuse Not To Donate Their

Leftover Food.” The Huffington Post, TheHuffingtonPost.com, 7 Dec. 2016.

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/restaurants-that-dont-donate-because-of-liability-

are-just-making-excuses-experts-say_us_577d6f92e4b0344d514dd20f
 According to the article, there is no public record of anyone in the U.S. being sued

or having to pay damages because of harms related to food. This is thanks to the Bill

Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act, which was passed in 1996. The act

protects restaurants from civil and criminal liability should a recipient get ill or hurt as a

result of consumed donated food.

The Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act can help protect our

nonprofit when donating dining hall food. While it will still be important to follow health

codes, the act can help prevent potential increases in cost of the nonprofit. While the

source may be a little biased, since it heavily supports restaurant food donations, it is still

provides reliable information about the law. The goal of the source is to convince more

people and restaurants to donate leftover food, which is what out nonprofit is also

pushing for dining halls on campus to do.

Government Accountability Office, US. “Better Information Could Help Eligible College

Students Access Federal Food Assistance Benefits.” Food Insecurity, Dec. 2018.

The main point of the source that I am focusing on is the recommendation for

students to be more aware of and have an easier time registering for SNAP (Supplemental

Nutrition Assistance Program). This program helps those who have food insecurity find

ways to receive benefits in their community. The US Government Accountability Office,

who wrote the journal, outlined the reasons for the necessity of students accessibility. It

says that of the students who have food insecurity, most have the ability to supplement

their needs with local benefits and programs. College towns and the colleges themselves

typically have programs that can be in contact with SNAPS to provide for those in need.
 Hawtof, Zoe. “Fighting Food Insecurity On Campus.” Beyond the Diag - Off Campus

Housing, The Regents of The University of Michigan, Dec. 2015.

https://offcampus.umich.edu/article/fighting-food-insecurity-campus

As of 2015, the two organizations working to fight food insecurity on campus are

Student Food Co and Maize & Blue Cupboard. Student Food Co sells inexpensive,

healthy produce to students twice a week at Mason Hall. Maize & Blue Cupboard

distributes free groceries (provided by food gatherers) to students once a month.

While both organizations have the right intentions, the small scale and lack of

frequency in events have not been able to resolve the entire issue of food insecurity on

campus. A nonprofit like ours can help further enable change and effectively reduce the

number of food insecure students on campus by incorporating all dining halls (expanding

the scale) and increasing the frequency of distributions, thus making food more easily

accessible to food insecure students on campus. The large scale of our project will also

help improve its publicity, reaching, informing, and assisting more students on campus

who need it.

Nouhan, Catherine. “Students Call University to Action over Food Insecurity on Campus.” The

Michigan Daily, 7 Oct. 2018, www.michigandaily.com/section/campus-life/students-call-

university-action-over-food-insecurity-campus.

While there exist solutions to the food insecurity experienced on campus, they are

not offered often – about once a month for Maize and Blue Pantry, a service offering free

groceries for University of Michigan students. Students experience food insecurity for a

number of reasons. Many don’t have easy access to transportation to get to affordable

grocery stores, have financial insecurity, or simply want to save money. For students that
 live off campus, this problem is even harder to deal with. Since they have to make their

own food, it is necessary for them to travel to get food. Without access to transportation,

it is extremely difficult to get to affordable grocery stores. An alternative is to purchase a

meal plan from the University, but they sometimes too expensive for students to justify.

“Off-Campus and Apartment Residents.” M|Dining, dining.umich.edu/meal-plans-rates/off-

campus-and-apartment-residents/.

The University of Michigan offers six meal plans for students:

Meal Plan 125 UNLIMITED UNLIMITED UNLIMITED

Name 55 80 BLOCK BASIC PLUS 200 PLUS 300

BLOCK BLOCK

Number

of Meals 55 80 125 Unlimited Unlimited Unlimited

Cost for

Meal Plan $690 - $1150 - $1390 - $2290 - $25 $2440 - $200 $2540 - $300

$50 $300 $250 Dining Dining Dining

Dining Dining Dining Dollars: Dollars: Dollars:

Dollars: Dollars: Dollars: $2265 $2240 $2240

$640 $850 $1140

Estimated

Cost per $11.63 $10.63 $9.12 $6.93 $6.85 $6.85

Meal 1
 After computing the estimated cost per meal (1), we see that the unlimited plans

offer the “best deal” for students at ~$6.90 per meal. However, this is an extremely

generous estimate. Students, to achieve this deal, would be eating in the Dining hall 3

times/day, every day the dining halls are open.

1: Based on the estimation of 109 days per term (Fall 2018) and 3 meals a day per

student for unlimited meal plans

Sameerow. “Food Recovery Network.” Planet Blue, 1 Dec. 2014,

sustainability.umich.edu/environ211/food-recovery-network.

http://sustainability.umich.edu/environ211/food-recovery-network

Food Recovery Network (FRN) is a national non-profit, dedicated to recovering

leftover food from university dining halls and other food sources and donating that food.

What the nonprofit would aim to do is not to discourage the FRN, but work with them to

provide the food specifically to students instead of donating it away to parties outside of

the university. Based on our research, we developed four recommendations: build trust

via inclusion in the organization, develop a communication strategy to fit the primary

volunteering demographic (university students), match the volunteer tasks to the skill set

of each volunteer, and offer leadership and social opportunities.

Tatter, Grace. “Food Insecurity on College Campuses.” Harvard Graduate School of

Education, 15 Nov. 2018, www.gse.harvard.edu/news/uk/18/11/food-insecurity-college-

campuses.

In this report by Bon Appetit, multiple university’s attempted (and successful)

solutions to the problem of security are outlined. Examples include Lesley University in
 Boston, which operates a food pantry for all commuting students, which has successful

provides snacks and meals for over 250 students daily(only a school of ~2,100). Another

is Brown University, which offers specific scholarships for undergraduate students

experiencing food insecurity. Another solution is called guest swiping, where students

can donate meal swipes to other students who need them. Universities that have this

include Emory University, Washington University at St. Louis, and Carlton University.

These initiatives’ success is hard to measure. One thing for sure, however, is that

many students benefit from them. A specific recommendation by the report is diverting a

small portion of food from dining halls to be used for meals for those experiencing food

insecurity, which aligns with Michigan Kitchen’s solution.

“University of Michigan Financial Report - 2017.” 2017 Annual Report, 2018,

finance.umich.edu/reports/2017/.

“Financial Statements.” 2018 Annual Report,

2018.annualreport.umich.edu/financial-statements/.

The University of Michigan does not provide details on overhead costs of dining

services. However, we can use provided details to make inferences about the costs of

these facilities, and the affordability of our programs.

Important figures pertaining to our solution to student food insecurity include

costs of student services (which includes Dining Hall costs and labor) and the

University’s increase in net position. The first figure, costs of student services, is the

lowest of the consolidated operating expenses states at about $112 million. This is a small

amount compared to, for example, how much the university spends on research – about

$800 million. Now, our solution would not cost nearly as much as $112 million.
However, even if we were to have a budget that large, the University would be able to

afford it. UofM’s net position (money they have invested) increased by almost $1.3

billion in 2017 and increased by almost $1 billion in 2018 to a total of $14.2 billion.