Food insecurity is a challenge that many college students face, and UT is no exception. According to the Austin-American Statesman, one in three UT students are food insecure, and some wonder when they will have access to their next meal. 

Allen Zhou, an electrical and computer engineering senior, created UT Peach with the help of public health senior Katie Nguyen to address these issues of food insecurity. UT Peach is a message service that sends text alerts about free food and events on campus. Students who sign up can also promote events their organization is having with food and those they believe others would enjoy. 

Zhou said in the future, they hope to work with University Housing and Dining to provide students with uneaten food from the dining halls or during catered events. UHD and other University organizations must throw out uneaten food, which can result in up to 30 tons of food waste per year, according to its website.

Zhou said he searches through social media platforms, event calendars and departments to put together a list of events to send out to University students, with Nguyen helping to spread awareness of the service and promote socialization among students.

“We’re starting with finding these free food events on campus, but we want to move in … to combat food insecurity on campus, as well as food waste,” Zhou said.

When tabling on Speedway, Zhou said he was approached by a member of UHD Catering Services who mentioned that there is a ton of food waste that must be thrown out after catering events. 

“That’s a huge loss because one in three students on campus faced food insecurity before, so it’s a huge proportion,” Zhou said. “If we could facilitate communication in that regard … that’s something that we’re trying to move into as well over the coming weeks.”

Zhou and Nguyen said when they were freshmen, they struggled to keep up with the different types of events and resources on campus and wished they had an easier way to learn about the different events held each week, spending less time researching and more being with their friends. Something like UT Peach, they said, would have made it easier to socialize.

Aditi Merchant, a biomedical engineering senior, said she orders food for her organization’s meetings and is often left with lots of leftover food. Because of this, Merchant said she is an avid user of the UT Peach texting service to prevent food waste.

“Finding ways to redistribute that food to students or members of the community who might need it is a much better system than what we have in place right now,” Merchant said. “(If we can) publicize some of these events to make sure that there is not as much excess, that would be great.”