A Slack Channel for Free Food Around Campus Launches

As an effort to ensure that surplus food on campus does not go to waste, along with helping students eat on a budget, the “SCU Free Food Alert” Slack channel started up on Feb. 26 and has been running ever since. 

Mary Xinag—the vice president of the Community Development Branch of Santa Clara University’s Associated Student Government—started this initiative that was three years in the making. 

The goal of this channel is “to ensure that surplus food does not go to waste, and our students are fed,” Xiang said. “So kind of going towards not just combating food insecurity, but also on the environmental side of sustainable food system effort.”

Since its launch in February, the Slack group has grown to 182 members. It is designed so that students can join independently and use the resources in a way that works best for them. The group has two channels: one for free food on campus and another for tips for eating on a budget. 

The channel is not only limited to admins on the channel, but any student, staff, or faculty member can message in the Slack channel about events that students can attend or excess food at events around campus. 

“Really, it's an institutional effort to helping each other,” Xiang said. “I think that's really at the core of Santa Clara.”

“Free lunch buffet (veggie bowls and turkey sandwiches) in the Campus Ministry conference room,” one student posted on the Slack channel. 

This Slack channel is laying the groundwork for Xiang’s vision for the future.

Xiang studied the prevalence of food insecurity on campus during her work with the Agroecology, Climate Resilience, and Food Justice Lab. Her research helped her realize the need for student food recovery efforts.

Additionally, Xiang saw a gap in food recovery. Currently, surplus food on campus is sent to a non-profit organization called COPIA — a technology platform that connects the school with non-profits in the area to donate the excess food. Xiang imagined a system where Santa Clara University students can access the campus’s surplus food rather than send it to an outside company.

The current initiative focuses on leftover catered food and spreading the word about free food events. Xiang hopes to expand the program to include the entirety of the university’s dining system, and keep it here on campus to feed students in need.

Looking forward, Xiang recognizes that starting conversations is a first step into destigmatizing basic need insecurity.

“I think for someone to live with dignity is having access to all the basic needs—resources they need. Also for students to be successful, not worrying about ‘whether or not I have money for the next meal,’” Xiang said. “So, a lot of that goes into destigmatizing this conversation.”