Augsburg College gifts the neighborhood with meals
Augsbuarg College's first couple, Dr. William and Anne Frame, took their turn in the college kitchen.
The ELCA college is one of only six schools in the country participating in the unique program.
Augsbuarg College's first couple, Dr. William and Anne Frame, took their turn in the college kitchen.
A unique partnership, linking an ELCA college, a national food service and a St. Louis-based nonprofit focused on feeding hungry people, got a public launch October 23, when Augsburg College’s first couple, Dr. William and Anne Frame put on chef’s hats and started stirring vegetables.
They were joined by more than a dozen students enrolled at the Minneapolis school, all of whom plan to volunteer in a creative venture called “Campus Kitchens Project.”
The national initiative is managed by a nonprofit group, Campus Kitchens, based in St. Louis, Missouri, and partners with Sodexho, a food service company which currently has the contract to run the dining room at Augsburg.
The idea is simple. Food not consumed (and not contaminated) after meals are served at the college is recycled by student volunteer cooks who prepare meals for the hungry in the neighborhood. Other volunteers deliver the meals.
Six colleges and universities nationwide are now in the program. Augsburg is the only school in Minn-esota to have signed on.
At the October 23 launch, Augsburg’s president explained that the program will be part of the college’s curriculum, impacting course offerings in disciplines such as religion, psychology and history.
Said Frame, “This is an ecologically responsible en-terprise. It eliminates excess food waste and involves our students in a worthy activity touching the community beyond our campus.”
Meals will be delivered to the nearby Trinity Lutheran after-school program, a downtown men’s shelter, Peace House (Franklin Avenue & I-35W) and Brian Coyle Center, which operates a neighborhood youth center.
