Students at Columbia University have come up with two innovative ways to address food insecurity on their campus: a custom app called Swipes and an Emergency Meal Fund.
The Columbia College Student Council (CCSC) presented both the app and meal-sharing program at the beginning of this academic year.
As this USA Today article explains, the Emergency Meal Fund works like a dining hall meal-swipe food bank. Columbia students can purchase meal plans with a maximum of 21 dining hall swipes per week, but many students end each week with leftover swipes. The Emergency Meal Fund will allow Columbia students to donate up to six unused swipes per semester and others in need to receive up to six meal vouchers per semester on a “no questions asked” basis, according to CCSC president Ben Makansi.
The Swipes mobile app was developed over the summer by two Columbia sophomores, Julio Henriquez and Helson Taveras.
USA Today explains how it works:
Anyone with a columbia.edu email address can sign up for it, either as a “Swiper” or a “Receiver.” When a Receiver needs a meal, they enter the time they’d like to eat and the dining hall, and a notification is sent out to all Swipers currently in that dining hall. If no Swipers are available in the hall, a broader notification is sent out to Swipers available on campus.
When a Swiper and a Receiver match, each receives a photo of the other, as well as any note the Receiver might have included (“I’m wearing a blue shirt and khakis,” for example). Then the Swiper goes to swipe the Receiver into the dining hall.
Unfortunately, Cornell only doles out 4 “bonus” guest meal swipes per semester for any given meal plan, and does not permit the donation of unused swipes.
Columbia’s student government has only just launched these two initiatives, so their success is yet to be determined. It seems they are on the right track, though, moving forward based on the winning principles of individual charity and technological innovation. Might Cornell students and administrators take their cue?
I think it would be better if Columbia were to instead set up a Student Run Grocery Store, funded by expropriating emergency financial aid reserves, and operated without a viable business plan.
They had one for years, it is now closed. There are many cheaper alternatives in the neighborhood.