The Walmart Foundation released a statement that the parent company had contributed more than $467 million in cash and in-kind gifts in the United States by January – increasing funding by $89 million from the previous year.

The Foundation also re-focused its philanthropy, doubling donations to food banks and giving more than 127 million pounds of food from Walmart stores, distribution centers, and Sam’s Clubs, an increase of 81 million pounds over last year.

Part of both the cash and in-kind gifts came to The Campus Kitchens Project network last year, enabling both the opening of and continued feeding at Campus Kitchens.

The Campus Kitchen coordinator at Washington and Lee University picked up 5000 pounds of food from the Lexington, Va. Walmart last November. Also in 2009, students from the Campus Kitchen at the University of Nebraska, Kearney worked through their local food bank to gather bakery donations from the town’s Walmart.

More recently, the Walmart Foundation turned its local influence on The Campus Kitchens Project into a national commitment, pledging $300,000 for the creation of six new campus kitchens over the next two years.

“One of our areas of focus is hunger relief,” said Maeve Miccio, Project Manager of the Walmart Foundation. “In light of the economy we have really shifted our focus to meeting basic needs.”

Miccio said that the combination of hunger relief, service, and sustainability makes The Campus Kitchen Project a good fit for the Walmart Foundation. She also said the Foundation appreciated grassroots nature of each individual kitchen as it is tailored to fit the needs of the community.

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They’re about to prepare and cook pumpkin enchiladas for a campus kitchen delivery shift next month – but first there’s a more pressing need at-hand: the students must help label and load two types of meals serving 75 people in the community that morning. Among the dishes: 17 whole, roasted turkeys.

The students – part of the hotel restaurant/management program, led by campus kitchen advisor Susan Callahan – unpack freezers to reveal a full Thanksgiving meal, and then some.

Residents of The Dwelling Place, an agency that works with 17 families to transition them from homeless to secure family life, receive boxes of all the fixings for a complete Thanksgiving feast, plus an extra frozen meal for a later date.

Families at The Dwelling Place might start their campus kitchen meal with fresh-baked bread, homemade gravy on mashed potatoes or steamed carrots and broccoli. Then it’s on to the main courses: sweet potato casserole and a ten pound roasted turkey, served with fresh cranberry relish. For dessert: pumpkin pie and homemade chocolate chip banana bread.

Volunteers piled this feast, along with the extra frozen meals, into three compact cars for transporting to families happy to feel the stress of providing a feast for the holidays melt away.

To deliver every part of the meals to The Dwelling Place clients, the delivery shift went an hour over schedule. But for the satisfaction of stocking refrigerators full of Thanksgiving goodies, it was well work the extra time.

A volunteer preps whole roasted turkeys for families at The Dwelling Place - Susan Callahan

Looking for more news on how Turkeypalooza went for other campus kitchens? Read the news stories linked below, or stay-tuned for the final numbers next week.

Turkeypalooza, University of Nebraska, Kearny

Turkeypalooza, Wake Forest University

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 The conference got underway Friday morning and, might I say, was a huge success. The whole weekend was catered by the amazing Fresh Start catering program through DC Central Kitchen. At the conference, students got to hear from many guest speakers and gained valuble tips and insights from them, as well as from fellow attendees. Topics at the conference included: fundraising, local food, nutrition, grant writing, community relationships, social media, leadership, and nonprofit professionalism. The conference came to a close on Saturday evening at a delicious local restaurant, Busboys and Poets. DCCK/CKP founder, Robert Egger, gave the closing speech and left the students and staff with a renewed sense of purpose.

The CKP staff would like to thank everyone who attended the conference as well as our awesome speakers and the generous donors and sponsors who made it all possible! Another successful conference as we enter into ‘Our New Millennium’…

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 ”Kearney has relatively limited resources when it comes to things such as the Farmer’s Market,” said Justine Derr, CKUNK coordinator, so she often schedules weekends away around whether or not there is someone to stop by the Farmer’s Market.

But it’s worth it. “The  benefits have been huge,” said Justine, “We get to serve fresh veggies  to our clients and they LOVE the extra fresh stuff!”

As is often the case with Campus Kitchens donations, unique situations arise: “For example, a few times we got an exorbitant amount of eggplant,” said Justine. “We got to work and came up with all the different types of recipes using eggplant and absorbed it!”

The advantage of working with the Farmer’s Market folks is not just the extra fresh food, it’s also the opportunity to make connections in the Kearney community. Justine stressed that the success of the Farmer’s Market pickup is because of the relationships the’ve built. “Our Farmer’s Market leaders LOVE the idea behind CKP so whenever we pick up, their enthusiasm spreads amongst all the farmers there,” she said.  “They ‘sell us’ like no other–which means more food donated!”

At the end of each Saturday, the rewards are clear: “It’s so awesome to see fresh produce being used for a great cause and not just trashed,” said Justine.

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Keeping your Campus Kitchen going through the summer poses serious challenges: dining halls have fewer leftovers or none at all and having fewer students on campus means difficulty recruiting volunteers.

Straight from Program Directors Erin and Ariel, here are 5 tips for running smooth summer ops.

1) Now is the best time to eat local! The Campus Kitchen at the University of Nebraska-Kearney and the Campus Kitchen at Gettysburg College are both working with local farmer’s markets to collect their leftover produce. The fruits of labor from community gardens help supplement meals at the Campus Kitchens at Augsburg College and the University of Vermont.

2) Get out and glean! Volunteers at several Campus Kitchens will spend time in farmer’s fields this summer picking the usable produce left over after harvest. I spoke with Garrett of the Mid-Atlantic Gleaning Network last week, who told me that sometimes as much as 90% of a farmer’s harvest is left in the fields!

3) Freeze stuff. Do it now.

4) Summer is a great time to strengthen relationships with clients. On delivery shifts, encourage volunteers to spend some extra time talking about the heat or the baseball game with their clients. When they’re not rushing home to finish problem sets or start a research paper, volunteers have a chance to listen and to learn from the people they serve.

5) Get creative with volunteer recruitment. The Campus Kitchen at Johns Hopkins University is partnering with the Summer Scholars program, a group of incoming freshmen who are arriving on campus early, while the Campus Kitchen at Washington and Lee has invited some of their clients to get involved with volunteer shifts. And there’s always Rotary or Kiwanis clubs, plus churches and other religious organizations.

What do you do at your Campus Kitchen to keep it rolling through the summer months?

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