The Campus Kitchens Project brings student volunteers, unserved food, and people in need of nourishing meals together to form resourceful anti-hunger programs. The process has become known as food rescue. Since 2001, 26 communities across the country have provided more than 1 million meals to needy people. According to Maureen Roche, National Director of The Campus Kitchens Project, Auburn University recently opened a Campus Kitchen and in the next few weeks she will be visiting locations in New York to conduct community needs assessments for even more locations.

Although the project started as an idea the DC Central Kitchen wanted to try, according to Roche, ”…the key to the success of CKP is our ability to serve each community how best suits their needs and utilizes their resources. We would not be able to do that if a community was not researched prior to a Campus Kitchen opening and if the program was not flexible enough to be modified to suit each city.  No two Campus Kitchens are alike because no two cities or their needs are alike and we would not be able to help if we did not research a community to find out what residents really need.”

The methodology follows Voice of the Customer, 6 Sigma, and Kaizen research approaches. The National Center solicits campus involvement. Each recruit is provided with an application, a feasibility form, an on-site community needs assessment from the National Director, assistance in forming a survey specific to the needs of the community, and training that teaches students to conduct community needs assessments. The guiding question, according to Roche, is “Why are people needing food?”

During a visit to Auburn University, Roche noticed that everyone was walking. It alerted her to a potential obstacle to the end-user benefiting from the service. When she inquired about transportation issues, she discovered that transportation is a key reason people do not have access to food. In order to amplify the voice of the customer, the needs assessment for Auburn includes questions specifically aimed at bridging the transportation barriers.

Quality of the products are also of critical importance. In the style of 6 Sigma, monitoring to avoid problems with the product is frequent. According to Townsend, safety of the rescued food is key to success of the program. There is a clear chain of custody and clear procedures for food delivery. The procedures include, but are not limited to, students checking the temperature of the food upon receipt, placing it in temperature controlled containers, and checking the temperature again at the delivery location.  

Kaizen is also important to the program. According to Bethel Erickson, VISTA for HOT Urban Gardening Coalition, “This past year, students from Baylor University Campus Kitchen (BUCK)program have started a relationship with the Calvary Baptist Community Garden in town to provide more fresh vegetables in the meals BUCK provides to Salvation Army, and in the meals Family and Consumer Science students serve at Family Abuse Center.”

In the spirit of Kaizen, they are already planning for expansion. According to Erickson, a meeting was held at Baylor to discuss a community garden on Baylor’s campus. The proposed garden would be maintained by students from BUCK and Baylor’s Environmental Science program. If the garden is approved, vegetables produced there will be used to supply BUCK programs.

While serving as Volunteer Coordinator for The Convergence Project, we had 28 projects accross the United States and overseas. One extremely successful project was lead by a volunteer that served The Convergence Project, in Memphis. Her name is Laura Keon.

Laura, is that volunteer we all dream of having. She was on the Stephen F. Austin Ladyjack basketball team when they won the national championship. She also founded a corporation that was traded publicly on the stock exchange. All I had to do was allow her to go through her paces. The only concern she ever expressed to me was, “The project has taken on a life of its own.” I felt like dancing. What had happened was that she motivated the participants so well, they took ownership of the project. When that happened under her guidance, success became inevitable.

The proposed project seemed impossible. She desired to bring together members of a housing project together with city leaders to identify a common goal. The goal became publicly subsidized insurance, at a point in time congress could not agree on what to do about the healthare issue.The result was state subsidized health insurance and corporately subsidized life insurance for every qualifying child in Memphis Public Schools. Approval and planning of the project took less time than, and was completed before, congressional approval of our current health care legislation. Enrollment of approximately 110,000 qualifying families will begin during school enrollment processes this September.

To identify how we might use her techniques in our public relations plan, I e-mailed her and requested an interview. According to Laura, she started by approaching city officials with the idea of implementing a Convergence Project. She was directed to Memphis Housing Authority. Working with the Memphis Housing Authority, Laura approached the residents of the housing authority to ask their input about their needs. During the public meeting portion of planning the project, she asked open ended questions. Among the questions were, according to Laura, “What are your needs?” and “What are the greatest challenges of the community?”  Then they allowed open discussion among the residents.

The biggest issue was a matter of building trust between residents and the Memphis Police Department. To accomplish the task required providing residents with something they needed and wanted. They wanted insurance and a chance to improve the lives of their children. According to Laura, research indicates that 98% of Memphis public school students live in abject poverty.It is also the largest school distict in the country.

There was already a program, called “Cover Kids,” provided by the state of Tennessee that city council members pulled into the process. Under the program, insurance for children is completely paid by the state. Laura connected with representatives from Mass Mutual. They provided subsidized life insurance to benefit qualifying children. Uner this part of the program, Mass Mutual provides $50k worth of life insurance on qualifying parents of school age children, with the children listed as the beneficiaries. If a child’s parent, or parents, die before the child is 18 the money may be used to cover funeral expenses and the remainder may be used to pay for educational expenses. In order to qualify, the participants can not have a felony conviction, the participants must pass a drug screen, and fall within the specified income range. To ensure equal opportunity to access the program, enrollment will take place as part of the School District’s enrollment package.

More programs are in the planning stages, and I will keep you updated on her efforts as opportunites for discussion arise.