With a student population exceeding 50,000 and hundreds of recognized student groups, the Campus Kitchen at University of Florida students are taking every opportunity to stand out this year. The goal: gain more volunteers committed to service.

The first move, according to new President Stephanie Nguyen, was upping the number of leadership roles available with the Campus Kitchen. She said the Campus Kitchen brought on 23 total leaders, which includes operations/shift managers and a network of Vice Presidents who oversee teams to carry out functions of the Campus Kitchen.

“We want the Campus Kitchen to be a more visible organization for students interested in service,” said Nguyen.

Thanks to expanding programming, there will soon be plenty of volunteer activities available too.

A graduate student and friend of Nguyen’s volunteers to do taxes for low-income clients, but experienced trouble generating awareness for the free service. He reached out to Nguyen, who agreed to include fliers for the free service with the meals served to families.

That gave her an idea: what if the Campus Kitchen could work with organizations and businesses, both on campus and off, to expand the teaching services they provide to community agencies beyond nutrition education?

Nguyen and her team work mostly with community agencies who serve young children and families. She’s also noticed most of the volunteers have an interest in education. To play to those interests and provide more services for families, Nguyen hopes to develop new partnerships with groups who could help facilitate workshops in financial literacy and mentoring.

In turn, Nguyen predicts the Campus Kitchen will serve a larger client base and keep more volunteers engaged long-term. And, perhaps, the Campus Kitchen will become a university-wide name.

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Many Campus Kitchens already put together activities to honor Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Some are already thinking ahead to the next Turekypalooza.

For those looking to add some spice weekly to meal preparations this winter, we’ve gathered some dates for planning ahead to your next awareness-building event.

Event: Heart and Soul (Valentine’s Day)

Dates: February, the week of Valentine’s Day

Origin: The Campus Kitchens Project network (This used to be a network-wide event)

Description: Campus Kitchens provide Valentine’s-themed meals to their clients, but they don’t fill those meals with the expected sweets and chocolate. Instead Campus Kitchens like St. Louis University provide heart healthy soul food options as a way to promote healthier eating in their community. They take nutrition education one step further, providing personalized Valentine’s greeting cards and healthy soul food recipes to their clients in an effort to feed and spread the love.

Event: Earth Day

Dates: April 22

Origin: The Earth Day Network

Description: Each year, Earth Day marks the anniversary of what many consider the birth of the modern environmental movement in 1970. Celebrate your latest Campus Kitchen milestone (whether its 1000 meals served or 10,000) by throwing an outdoor, food-inspired event in an area of campus with lots of foot traffic. Last year, the Campus Kitchen at Gettysburg College hosted a 10 Ton Relay event to coincide with Earth Day, and challenged students to meal service-themed activities to celebrate 10 tons of food recovered.

Event: National Campus Sustainability Day

Dates: October 20

Origin: Campus Sustainability Planning Network

Description: Tap into green group homes, environmental majors, and those interested in furthering sustainability on your campus by hosting a campus-wide fair, documentary screening or awareness day, sponsored by your Campus Kitchen. The sustainability planning network could help with ideas on how to use this day to your advantage, but check out what the University of Georgia or University of North Carolina did last year for more ideas.

Event: National Homelessness and Hunger Awareness Week

Dates: November 14 – 20

Origin: Co-sponsored by: National Coalition for the Homeless and
National Student Campaign Against Hunger & Homelessness. (View the Manual.)

Description: Each year, one week before Thanksgiving, a number of schools, communities and cities take part in a nationwide effort to bring greater awareness to the problems of hunger and homelessness. The Campus Kitchen is a perfect vehicle to bring awareness since you deal with both! Whether its placing signs informational signs on the quad like the Campus Kitchen at University of Florida, or holding a week of food awareness events similar to the Campus Kitchen at Wake Forest University’s “Wake Up to Food Week”, use the time to show your college that Campus Kitchens combat more than just hunger.

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The Campus Kitchen at Gonzaga University walloped their turkey count from last year, accumulating nearly 150 turkeys to feed Spokane, Washington residents.

In the peak of a regional snowstorm, the Campus Kitchen at Minnesota State University, Mankato, successfully delivered hand-made greeting cards with grocery bags full of all the Thanksgiving fixings.

At the University of Wisconsin Eau Claire, the Campus Kitchen connected with five non-traditional student families to prepare entire Thanksgiving meals with all of the trimmings for busy single parents to heat and serve.

For their first-ever Turkeypalooza, the Campus Kitchen at University of Massachusetts Boston pulled off a successful “Take your Turkey to Work Day”.

The Campus Kitchen at Washington and Lee fed clients of all ages and backgrounds in honor of Turkey Day, including the Rockbridge Area Occupational Center, an organization that works with outside agencies to provide center-based employment for people with disabilities.

View more pictures below:

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Wondering what’s stuffed inside Turkeypalooza? Gobble this down.

• The Campus Kitchen at Washington and Lee caught this child’s reaction to a delicious turkey dinner on video.
• At the Campus Kitchen at University of Florida has been canned- and they’re pretty happy about it.
• The coordinator at University of Massachusetts Boston gives us a 360 degree tour of her office full of donations after one day of Turkeypalooza Day 1.
• At St. Louis University, volunteers brined their turkeys (which looks like this) for the second year in a row!
• In its first year holding Turkeypalooza, the Campus Kitchen at University of Virginia fed 200 with this awesome poster and help from the community.
• The Daily Northwestern covered the Campus Kitchen at Northwestern University’s massive Turkeypalooza effort.
• The local TV News showed up to the Campus Kitchen at Wake Forest University’s Turkeypalooza cooking event.
• Read more about all the Thanksgiving feeding efforts on our #Turkeypalooza twitter feed. Also check our CK Local Events Calendar for information on a Turkeypalooza near you.

Stay-tuned as more Campus Kitchens carve into distinctive Turkey Day events.

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The Princeton Review recognized that more and more high school seniors choose their colleges based on how environmentally conscious they are. Of those surveyed, 24 percent of students said that a college’s commitment to the environment would “very much” impact their college decision. This gave the university ratings company reason to devise a method for evaluating a schools greenness, using campus commitment to sustainability, the degree of environmental academics, and efforts to reduce a school’s carbon footprint in the future.

Campus Kitchens are the poster child for campus sustainability, environmental service learning, and reducing waste on campus, so it’s no surprise that eleven of 26 kitchens were deemed among the 268 Greenest Colleges in America.

CK Coordinators show of their new, more efficient (green!) kitchen at Gettysburg, during their Earth Day event

So what makes campuses “green”? Aside from having a Campus Kitchen?  Some of the things The Princeton Review sited are: availability of locally grown food, green buildings on campus, formal committees on sustainability, environmental degrees, biodegradable containers, and alternative modes of transport on campus.

Below is a list of the eleven current Campus Kitchens to make the cut. Three more likely Campus Kitchens in Fall 2010 also made the list: Elon College, Louisiana State University, and Tulane University.

College of William and Mary

Gettysburg College

Johns Hopkins University

Marquette University

St. Lawrence University

Union College

University of Florida

University of Massachusetts Boston

University of Vermont

University of Virginia

Wake Forest University

It’s not easy being green.

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One of the university’s final sustainable events, led by the Campus Kitchen at the University of Florida, was centered around (of course) food. The Campus Kitchen used the 40 days of activities as an opportunity to host its food week, which took place April 5 to April 9.

As part of the “Food Summit for Sustainability” leadership team members and student volunteers threw a Stop Hunger Now banquet to raise funds and awareness. This year, the team went international.

The CKUF reserved a university hall basement and asked for $5 (advance tickets) and $7 at door for a banquet of international foods and a hunger presentation to rally the Gator community around the spirit of Campus Kitchens.

Future and current Campus Kitchen leaders Allison Gibbs and Nicole Johnson at the Stop Hunger Now Banquet

Those who attended sampled fare from around the globe: Asian stir fry with shrimp, spaghetti, a broccoli and cheese casserole, curry potatoes, green beans  and corn, quesadillas and salsa, rice and beans, roasted turkey, grilled chicken breast, Mojo Picante chicken, salad, croissants, bagels, chow mein, chocolate cake, chocolate chip cookies and brownies.

A DJ played international music during the banquet, and later, about 40 attendees learned of international hunger and sustainable ways to solve the problem through an interactive presentation.

Below are some links to the videos the CKUF team showed:

Eaten in One Week

Vandana Shiva

Al Jazeera English, food solutions

Campus Kitchen overview

View more pictures on CKUF’s Flickr Account:

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The boy, who wore plastic gloves and a hairnet to hand out the drinks, was just one of the children who spent the early evening playing and eating in the park alongside University of Florida college students looking to form a greater connection to their adopted community.

The Campus Kitchen team arrived at Woodland Park before 5 p.m., when the community was invited to arrive, to set up an assembly line for meal service, buffet style. On the menu that day: chicken marsala, stuffed shells, scalloped potatoes, roast beef, corn, green beans, manicotti, dinner rolls, brownies, cake, and a gingerbread cranberry bar dessert. The young volunteer poured iced tea and lemonade.

As the food warmed up, the Campus Kitchen volunteers played music to get the community dancing. A couple girls even showed off a practiced dance. After playtime and food time, volunteers packaged up leftovers to store in the refrigerator of the Boys & Girls Club annex. The rest of the leftovers went to St. Francis House, a homeless shelter and community partner.

One volunteer, Veronica Barrere, describes her experience:

“I met one girl who just grabbed me by the hand in a matter of seconds after saying ‘Hi’ to me. I let some kids take pictures with my camera, gave them piggyback rides, let them play with my hair…I also remember a little girl asking me, ‘Why are you guys having this dinner for us?’ I told her: ‘Cause it’s fun.’ I didn’t quite know what else to say, but she was satisfied.”

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In 2009, 3.16 million college students performed more than 300 million hours of service.

From those numbers, six colleges and universities have been named as Presidential Awardees in the 2009 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll, the highest federal recognition a college or university can receive for commitment to volunteering, service-learning, and civic engagement.

One Campus Kitchen site, Lee University in Cleveland, TN, was named among the six Presidential Awardees. Lee students completed more than 60,000 hours of volunteer service last year in projects aimed at poverty relief, food collection and distribution, and helping students with autism and other developmental disabilities. More than 80 percent of Lee’s students are involved in volunteering and service-learning.

“CKP is a huge support of our [Lee University's] benevolence arm. Thanks for all your work toward establishing CKLee,” said William B. Lamb, Director of Field Experiences for the Leonard Center at Lee University.

Two additional Honor Roll lists included colleges and universities that also house or are developing a Campus Kitchen as part of their community service portfolio.

The Honor Roll with Distinction includes:
Augsburg College
Saint Louis University
Union College
College of William and Mary
University of Wisconsin Eau Claire
Tulane University*
College of the Holy Cross*
Elon University*

The Honor Roll includes:
University of Florida
University of Massachusetts Boston
Washington University in St. Louis
East Carolina University
Wake Forest University
University of Vermont
University of Virginia
Gonzaga University
Marquette University
University of Detroit Mercy*

*Universities that are currently working with CKP to develop Campus Kitchens.

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This year, over 900 volunteers are expected to produce over 12,000 meals. Some will use MLK Day, January 18, to kick off their projects. Others will spend the days to follow launching into their semesters of service. Regardless of the timeline, we can’t wait to hear the stories of success: how a child used a computer for the first time to explore the world of nutrition, how ex-offenders discovered a passion while preparing a community meal alongside professional chefs, or how a campus kitchen implemented its first meal service shift.

What do the MLK Day grantees have to live up to? Read below for a summary of what happened last year, during CKP’s first MLK Day.

701 CKP volunteers logged over 3000 hours of service in their communities as part of the largest turnout ever for an MLK Day of Service.

We’re especially excited about the projects at our brand-new campus Kitchens at Baylor University, , University of Wisconsin at Eau Claire, Johns Hopkins University, and the University of Florida. They prepared food for community garden volunteers in Texas, deep cleaned a community table in Wisconsin, helped job seekers prepare resumes in Baltimore and served their very first CK meals in Florida.

At the University of Vermont, students renovated the dining hall at the local Food Shelf. They repainted the paneling and drew murals on three of the large panels, featuring pictures inspired by the book “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.”

Inspired by Obama’s impending inauguration, new volunteers made MLK day at St. Louis University’s Campus Kitchen one to remember.

What better way to honor the 80^th birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr. and celebrate the inauguration of our very first African-American president than to answer their call to service? What better way to define our national character than to recycle waste? What better way to satisfy our spirits than to feed the hungry?

Where were you on MLK Day 2009?

Let us know what you’re planning for MLK Day 2010!

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The family of 20 campus kitchens that make up The Campus Kitchens Project saw a lot of highs and lows, cabbage and carrots, PB&J’s and pastas, tomatoes and turkeys in 2009. The year of an ill economy, swine flue epidemic, and a healthcare overhaul also marked a period of successes for CKP.

We think 2009 was a pretty good year for The Campus Kitchens Project – and it’s all thanks to the dedicated staff, students, volunteers, and community partners who helped make hunger relief a real and growing force in each community. Together, the campus kitchens reached the million meals milestone, hung up our chef’s hats in five new kitchens, and ushered in greener and more local food movements. It’s hard to believe we accomplished so much in 2009. But what’s harder to believe? All of it was done in addition to the usual meals cooked and delivered by students each day.

The top five moments of 2009:

1. Millions Milestones: We did it. We’re millionaires. Something about the end of the decade and exponential increase of kitchens serving meals helped us reach two “millions” milestones. In May, CKP’s pounds of food recovered spilled just over the million mark. Then, in October, something more impressive: kitchens came together in Washington, D.C. (during the CKP National Leadership Conference!) to serve the millionth meal. View footage of the event here.

2. CKP became a MLK Day of Service Grantee: Campuses are great at preparing meals day in and day out, but sometimes need an extra infusion of cash and support to kick services into high gear. Enter the Corporation for National and Community Service and their MLK Day of Service grants.

The award allowed CKP to give thousands of dollars to campus kitchens and other organizations around the country. In the first year of the MLK Day grant, CKP’s group of sub-grantees gathered over 1000 volunteers to carry on the work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., bridging barriers, empowering individuals, and strengthening communities. Students at the Campus Kitchen at Jacksonville University held two community barbeques in an effort to build trust between the isolated student population and their neighbors. Looking forward to MLK Day 2010, CKP will aid organizations in gathering hundreds more volunteers to work against hunger relief and provide other basic human needs.

3. Five New Campus Kitchens Open: The Campus Kitchen’s Project has seen years of growth, but none were perhaps as robust as increasing the existing kitchen fleet by one third. CKP opened five new kitchens: University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire, University of Florida, Baylor University, Johns Hopkins University and Lee University in January 2009. In less than a year, each kitchen has already carved out its own niche as a valuable asset in the community, jump-starting gleaning programs, planning for culinary job training classes, becoming sole providers for community soup kitchens, and developing a strong base of student leadership. We can’t wait to see what these kitchens have in store for next year!

4. Walmart Becomes a National Partner, Fuels Expansion: In addition to the Sodexo Foundation, the initial funder and supporter of The Campus Kitchens project, the Walmart Foundation has committed $300,000 to helping CKP open up six new kitchens in the next two years. Local Walmarts have supported many kitchens through food banks in the past, but this national grant amplifies the company’s commitment to hunger relief. The first kitchen Walmart will help open: The University of Massachusetts, Boston at the end of January 2010.

5.  High School Volunteerism Program – In 2009, CKP dipped further into the fountain of youth with the creation of a program allowing high school students to work with their local university campus kitchens to deliver meals. Meanwhile, the students could log volunteer hours often needed to graduate. Two high schools in the Washington, D.C. area, one in New Orleans, and another in Boston have either shown interest or committed to the program.

Thanks again for a wonderful year. Can’t wait to see what the next one will bring!

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