Earth Day Fair Free Produce Table

Amount Awarded: $972.90

Academic Year: 2022-2023

Implementation: April 2023

Full Application: Link

Categories: Campus and Community Engagement Student Life Dining Services Procurement

This grant allowed for the purchase of bulk produce from local farms to redistribute to students at no cost during the Earth Week Fair that happened April 21st, 2023. According to Western Washington University’s Office of Basic Living, 44.7% of students struggle with some level of food insecurity as of 2021. The purpose of this project was to bring momentary aid to students who are food insecure as well as expand students' knowledge of the concept of food justice, and how it plays into the larger idea of environmental justice.

In addition to a lack of food security, many financial barriers exist for college students that restrict them from acquiring healthy, locally grown food. With this project, the team wanted to bring food directly to campus, eliminating virtually any barrier that would restrict access to clean, healthy produce. The plan was for any leftover produce to be distributed to the various food pantries on campus; however, the produce was “sold out” within an hour of their table opening.

Produce was sourced from Puget Sound Food Hub, a local digital marketplace whose mission is “to support and champion local, family scale farms by providing a direct connection with buyers in our region seeking high quality, locally produced food,” according to their website.

Testimonials

"We had the satisfaction of positively impacting campus life by promoting healthy and sustainable food-related practices. Additionally, the process allowed us to strengthen our team's camaraderie, resulting in a more fulfilling experience and stronger interpersonal bonds between collaborators. Going forward, the skills we gained in collaboration and efficiency during this project will undoubtedly benefit each team member in the future." - Grant Team

“My biggest takeaway has got to be just how willing people are to get involved in cool, local projects. The team was originally just made up of two people, but after talking to a couple of different folks, we quickly got more help than we knew what to do with. In addition to this, community partners are eager to help student-led projects, so going forward it would be awesome to draw on this and create a stronger connection with the community” - Grant Lead

“The highlight of the project for me was seeing the meals people posted to social media and tagged us in, using the materials we gave out. We worked very hard to secure funding for this project and to make it a reality, so it was really rewarding to see the fruits of our labor realized. To hear about people enjoying balanced and nutritious meals was super gratifying because our main goal was to show people that food insecurity is not a battle that anyone has to face alone. It's the responsibility of our community and each of its members to look out for each other and to talk about what ails us.” - Grant Member