A UT Outpost initiative to collect leftover Dine In Dollars to turn into “temporary” meal cards will officially launch this semester.
Fuel the Forty will allow students with certain meal plans and leftover Dine In Dollars to donate to the Food Support Fund, which will go toward five meal swipes on a temporary meal card redeemable at dining halls on campus, said Valeria Martin, the associate director for basic needs for the Office of the Dean of Students.
“This offers a really wonderful opportunity for students who don’t want their Dine In Dollars to go to waste, to be able to then give it back to a fellow peer,” Martin said.
Students with a residence hall unlimited meal plan can donate up to $60 from their Dine In Dollar balance, and students with the Longhorn Unlimited plan can donate up to $25. Anyone can also make a monetary donation of any amount to the Food Support Fund under the Fuel the Forty section of the UT Outpost website.
To donate their Dine In Dollars, students have to fill out a form with UT Outpost indicating how many Dine In Dollars they would like to donate at the end of the semester. Leftover funds will not be absorbed automatically if the form is not completed. The form will launch during the Longhorn Run on April 18, where Fuel the Forty will be tabling with QR codes to the form that will then be available on the Outpost website.
The Outpost has been working with University Housing and Dining on this initiative, and the goal is to have cards ready by the fall semester, Martin said.
“Ultimately, it’s once we get enough funds to get the cards going,” Martin said.
To get one of these cards, students will be able to make a request with UT Outpost.
“They would be able to request the first card, no questions asked,” Martin said. “They would fill out a basic form for us with some demographic questions, some questions about food insecurity, and would get that first card.”
Martin said if students need to request an additional card, they would be required to meet with an Outpost staff member about other resources and make sure they are able to access the support they need.
Martin used to work with residence assistants and said she would hear stories about students scrambling to spend Dine In Dollars at the end of the semester.
“Often it was eating Chick-fil-A for a week to finish it because they didn’t want it to go to waste,” she said.
Martin said these emergency cards can be used almost any time a student needs help, whether it be a financial struggle or another difficulty.
“(The Outpost does) see students that maybe are struggling in a particular week or a month where something has been really hard,” Martin said. “To be able to access food on campus would be so helpful for them, (and) to be able to offer this will make a really great impact.”
