Sharing hope
When campus emptied, the Marquette University Neighborhood Kitchen pivoted to help students while reducing food waste
By Mary Schmitt Boyer, Jour ’77, and Tracy Staedter
For Christine Little, the new program coordinator of a community food program based in Mashuda Hall, spring couldn’t come soon enough. She was excited to continue growing the Marquette University Neighborhood Kitchen, known as MUNK, which had launched in October 2019. It worked to reduce food waste by turning unserved and unused food from Marquette dining halls and events into delicious meals for Milwaukee community members who needed it most.
Little had five student volunteers and the expertise of Sharon Hope, a full-time chef in the dining hall run by Sodexo in Straz Tower, who had volunteered since 2001 in Campus Kitchen, a similar program tied to a national organization that had run out of resources in 2017. And there was a grateful local nonprofit welcoming meals — the Benedict Center, a residential program for low-income women recovering from addiction and trauma.
Then the coronavirus crisis led Marquette to implement remote learning and prompted the Benedict Center to close down. As MUNK faced an uncertain future, another need quickly surfaced — this one from a student-run meal program, the Marquette Backpack Program.
Also located in Mashuda Hall, it serves students having difficulty accessing affordable and nutritious food. At the time of the university’s closure, about 50 students, many who lived off campus and hadn’t purchased a meal plan, were relying on the Backback Program and indicated they could still use help. But because it was completely student-run, there was no one on campus to fill their requests.
At the time of the university’s closure, about 50 students, many who lived off campus and hadn’t purchased a meal plan, were relying on the Backback Program and indicated they could still use help. But because it was completely student-run, there was no one on campus to fill their requests.
Catching wind of the problem, Little reacted quickly. She worked with Rick Arcuri, director of business operations and auxiliary services, and Kimberly VanBeek, executive assistant in student affairs, to modify MUNK’s operations. With Hope’s help, they began turning 3,000 pounds of recovered food into frozen dinners to supplement the items already provided through the Backpack Program. “There was no one else on campus to do it,” Little says.
Hope, furloughed from her day job since campus closed, began coming in on Mondays and Wednesdays. “I believe everyone has the right to food,’’ Hope says. In the U.S., 40 million people, including 12 million children, struggle to have enough food on their tables, according to Bread for the World. In Wisconsin, it’s one in 11 households.
Hope starting whipping up tasty meals, such as meatloaf, broccoli and roasted potatoes, alfredo noodles and vegan and dairy-free chili and Moroccan stew. The first week, they filled the bag requests from those 50 students and were able to add in the frozen meals by the second week.
Little says that 90 percent of each meal is typically recovered food. The other 10 percent is nonperishable items, such as dry goods or canned soups that have been purchased or collected earlier through campus food drives. Students request their bags online through the Backpack Program, and MUNK adds the frozen entree meals in addition to the bags, being sure to meet any indicated dietary restrictions. Students are able to pick up their bags and meals Tuesdays and Wednesdays; the pickup desk is typically staffed by Little, VanBeek or Edi Kuhn, building supervisor for the AMU.
Rachel Beilfuss, a Marquette senior and director of operations for the Backpack Program, is grateful that MUNK stepped in to fill the gaps left when student volunteers had to return home. “When something as unexpected as this occurs, it is really great to see how our Marquette family pulls together and gets things done,” she says.
Little has been taking the situation day by day, as the kitchen prepares meals for about 25 students, now that others have managed to return home. Come fall, she hopes to return to serving the Benedict Center and the weekly schedule student volunteers had in place for recovering food and keeping it out of the trash or compost. “We’ll keep going as long as we need to and adjust along the way,” Little says.
In addition to MUNK, other sustainability efforts at Marquette are yielding good results:
Replacing rock salt with brine. Nothing proved the success of this new endeavor better than the all-day snowfall that arrived for National Marquette Day on Feb. 9. Chris Bartolone, Arts ’93, assistant director of facilities services, and his staff began pretreating campus surfaces with the brine — a mixture of saltwater and rock salt — two days before the storm, and it worked so well that only minimal cleanup was needed to get the university ready for classes on Monday. “We only used two people that weekend, so it saved us money, salt and manpower,’’ Bartolone says, adding that it was too early to estimate exactly how much of each was saved this year. The process has been so effective that a bigger piece of equipment has been purchased to clear larger campus surfaces like parking lots.
LED lights. All 240-watt high pressure sodium light bulbs have been replaced with 80-watt LED lights, according to Mike Jahner, Grad ’09, director of facilities management. The next step will be installing the most effective daylighting controls. “We are on pace to save about $85,000 a year with this upgrade,’’ Jahner says. “And I’m hoping for another $25,000 to $30,000 a year once we get the daylight controls installed.’’
