Student-led initiative seeks to reduce food insecurity at UW-Eau Claire

In her second-year at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, Kristen O’Brien observed a behind the scenes challenge facing students: food insecurity.

“It’s something that’s still stigmatized on college campuses,” she told WPR’s “Wisconsin Today.”

About 47 percent of its more than 8,700 enrolled students have some level of food insecurity, according to the university’s 2024 spring survey. 

“People going to college are responsible for their own funds for the first time in their life,” she said. “[They] struggle to provide themselves with food, especially nutritional food.”

Now, as a  third-year student, O’Brien is piloting a food recovery program that repackages leftovers to give students access to free and nutritious meals.

“This is food that has been cooked and prepared, but doesn’t reach the hot plates of the buffet table,” she said.

O’Brien — student director with the Student Office of Sustainability — said the program launched last fall, a year after she and a classmate met with the head of campus food services and university administrators. 

“I have a friend that goes to the UW-Madison. They told me about a similar system where food is repackaged from their dining halls and then given to students for free,” she said. 

From there, a collaboration was created between the UW-Eau Claire Administrative Office of Sustainability, Student Office of Sustainability, University Centers, Sodexo food services and the Campus Harvest Food Pantry.

During the fall semester, O’Brien said she and John Arnold — head of the university’s dining experiences — repackaged about 600 meals.  

They are “flying off the shelves,” she added.

The meals are frozen and prepared under ServSafe standards, and include allergy information, along with reheating instructions.

“That’s hundreds of pounds worth of food that is not being thrown away,” O’Brien said. 

This semester, the food recovery program is adding a new alert system to inform students through email and push notifications of when catered campus events have available leftovers. 

“Essentially, it helps limit the food waste that often occurs after these catered events and also helps hungry students,” she said.

O’Brien expects more volunteers this semester to help repackage meals a few hours per week. Students have the opportunity to earn college credit through the service learning effort.  

In addition to this year’s new program, O’Brien said the campus’s food pantry also changed locations to the Davies Student Center — a central student hub — to provide more visibility.

“Students didn’t even know that we had a food pantry on campus,” she said.

For more than a decade, the Campus Harvest Food pantry has provided perishable and nonperishable food for students. In 2023, the pantry collected about 32,000 pounds of food and personal hygiene items.

O’Brien hopes other universities can learn from their approach to supporting students facing  food insecurity.

“All you truly need is one student or administrator who’s passionate about students to bring this up to other administrators,” she said.