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PORTLAND, Maine

UNE students combat local hunger with Food Recovery Network partnership

Maine holds the number one slot in New England for food insecurity—this startling statistic inspired a group of students at the University in New England to fight hunger on a local level by implementing a chapter of Food Recovery Network (FRN) on campus called, “The UNE Hunger Initiative.”

FRN is a national organization that empowers students at colleges and universities to fight food waste and hunger by recovering and donating perishable food that would otherwise go to waste from their campuses and the surrounding communities. After learning about the level of poverty and hunger within the Biddeford area, Samantha Cottone, a junior in UNE’s health, wellness and occupational studies program, assembled a group of students to carry out this campus-wide effort toward change.

Through The UNE Hunger Initiative, Sodexo staff members collect extra food from three of the dining locations on campus, and student volunteers deliver it to the Bon Appetit community meal program in downtown Biddeford on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Since January, Sodexo has donated approximately 300 pounds of food from the three locations on the Biddeford campus. The amount of food donated from all locations translates to about 10,000 pounds of food annually.

Students involved with the initiative also plan to use UNE’s community garden to grow fresh produce for local food banks during the summer.

The goals of this project are ambitious:

  • To provide food for community members in need and lighten the burden for local food banks with limited resources
  • To provide community access to healthier food options
  • To champion sustainability by diverting food waste from trash heaps and compost piles
  • To strengthen the relationship between UNE and the surrounding community

“Food insecurity is a significant issue in the United States, especially in Maine. Our mission is to decrease that problem one delivery at a time, and in the process, build a stronger bond between UNE and our community,” says Cottone.

For more information about The UNE Hunger Initiative, please contact Nicole Huang, AmeriCorps volunteer for the Office of Citizenship and Civic Engagement, at nhuang@une.edu.

About Food Recovery Network

Food Recovery Network is a national nonprofit that unites and empowers students on college and university campuses to fight waste and feed people by donating surplus unsold food from their colleges to community hunger-fighting agencies. Founded in 2011, FRN has grown to include chapters at over 125 campuses in 31 states and the District of Columbia. These chapters have recovered nearly 700,000 pounds of food, providing more than half a million meals to community members. Approximately sixty campuses join the Food Recovery Network movement each year. Visit www.foodrecoverynetwork.org for more information.

About the University of New England

The University of New England is Maine’s largest independent university, with two beautiful coastal campuses in Maine, a one-of-a-kind study abroad campus in Tangier, Morocco, and an array of flexible, accredited online degrees. In an uncommonly welcoming and supportive community, we offer hands-on learning, empowering students to make a positive impact in a world full of challenges. The state’s top provider of health professionals, we are home to Maine’s only medical college, Maine’s only dental college, a variety of other interprofessionally aligned health care degree programs, as well as nationally recognized programs for marine science degrees, natural and social sciences degrees, arts and humanities degrees, and business degrees.