Most of us have eyes larger than our stomachs. The result: wasting the equivalent of hundreds of adequate meals from campus dining halls.

The Student Government Association Food Committee has initiated the Food Recovery Project in an effort to save leftover food from Griesedieck Dining Hall and donate it to where it is needed through means of a partnership with Campus Kitchen.

The idea of donating leftover food from on-campus locations developed at the end of last semester. Before spring break, Flats 3-7-4 Senator Krishi Peddada and Griesedieck Hall Senator and President-Elect Blake Exline worked with the Food Committee to meet and collaborate with Alpha Phi Omega, Billiken Dining Services and Campus Kitchen to discuss potential ways to make the proposal a reality.

Exline said, “All parties were willing to work towards this mission and were excited about the possibly of helping out members of our community with the leftover food from Griesedieck.”

At present, Campus Kitchen is operating from Reinert Hall, allowing this dining location to already donate its leftover food because the two entities share a kitchen in Reinert.

Except for Griesedieck and Reinert, SLU’s food service locations on campus are a-la-carte service, offering a menu of items priced and ordered separately. This system yields much less food waste than at buffet style dining locations because food is not produced in such bulk.

Billiken Dining Chief Executive Chef Dan said that WashU has a similar donation service in place.

Once the project operates at full capacity, the committee hopes to have delivery of leftover food from Griesedieck Hall to Campus Kitchen three times per week. Based on the demand of the dining hall, the amount of food preserved will vary.

Before donating food to Campus Kitchen, volunteers will take proper measures to ensure the quality of the food. All leftover food to be delivered will be refrigerated overnight, setting it at the correct temperature to allow for students to walk the food over without it spoiling. The food will then be prepared into meals and donated to agencies and individuals in need.

Volunteer opportunities are available for all interested in transporting the leftovers from the rear of Griesedieck to Reinert. Volunteers could walk or drive the food, based on preference.

APO, the co-ed service fraternity, is adopting the project as a “continuous” service site. This means that APO members make a commitment to volunteer with the project a specified number of times throughout the semester. Regardless of membership in APO, any interested students can contact Peddada at [email protected] to get involved. The program is anticipated to launch within the upcoming weeks.