UT will allow students, staff and faculty to access leftover free food from on-campus events, beginning this semester.
The program allows verified campus event hosts to notify students, faculty and staff if they have leftover food from an event. Those in the program will have 30 minutes to get whatever is offered on a first-come, first-served basis.
To join the program to receive free food, enable notifications for the MyUT Austin app, go to the Message Center in the app, tap “Manage opt-in channels” and select “UT Free Food.” The bottom of the site heeds a warning: “All food is offered in good faith — consume at your own risk.”
More than 850 people have already signed up for the channel, according to Valerie Nies, director of organizational communications for campus operations.
“This fall, we’re piloting the program to learn what works well and what could be improved,” Nies said in an email.
The program was designed to eliminate food waste after events, Nies wrote. They are partnering with a student capstone course to help gather feedback on the program.
“We noticed that leftover food from events was often thrown away simply because there wasn’t an easy way to let others know it was available,” Nies said in an email.
For students, the channel allows another layer of protection from food insecurity. According to a 2020 survey from Texas Environmental Science Institute, 42% percent of UT students reported experiencing food insecurity. The program seeks to reduce that hunger, Nies said.
Finance junior Lisa Hadi said she used to work with UT Dining and catered events, and she saw the vast amount of food waste from the events.
“UT also has a good opportunity to work with other local vendors as well,” Hadi said. “I’ve had a few DMs on my food account from local Austin restaurants and businesses asking how to get onto the platform.”
Hadi runs both Instagram and TikTok “food blogs” where she shares her love of food to more than 3,000 followers on both accounts. Hadi said the video about the free food channel gained more traction than she expected.
“This (is) really good … to help students who actually need food, even if they live off campus,” Hadi said.
Amanda Rohlich, food policy advisor at the City of Austin in the Office of Climate Action and Resilience, said the program will hopefully help reduce food insecurity among students.
“Many students are living on their own for the first time and having to learn how to balance a budget,” Rohlich said. “It really is like some of a really overlooked population that is vulnerable to food insecurity.”
