Update: The NRHH raised enough points during the point drive to purchase over 12,000 lbs. of brown rice for Food For Lane County with the help of the food provider, Sysco. Sysco also donated an additional 3,000 lbs. of brown rice, which adds up to over 15,000 lbs. in total.
Where do the meal points you don’t use go?
When students eating on-campus don’t use meal points, they usually go back to the University of Oregon. But a rising number of students are giving their meal points instead to Food For Lane County, a local food bank. At the end of fall term, the National Residence Hall Honorary hosted its most successful point drive to date, raising enough points to purchase over 5,000 pounds of food.
At the end of each term, students’ rollover meal points are cleared, going back to the university in some monetary form.
“I wanted to come up with a solution for points that were kind of just disappearing,” said the NRHH Recognition Coordinator Jan Raether.
These disappearing points typically go back to the university in some monetary form of equal value. However, students can choose to donate points, which would then be transferred into a money value to purchase food for Food For Lane County.
This is the third year that the NRHH has hosted the point drive, which has been going on for about ten years in total.
“It has made a really, really big difference,” said Deb McGeorge, food resource manager at Food For Lane County. “Students not only give up some points, they have found a way to turn around and give back to the community.”
She added that smaller point drives are especially important when the food bank is running low on certain food staples.
Over 12,000 points were donated during the point drive which, after being converted into a monetary value, were used to purchase over 5,000 pounds of brown rice.
“We’re very happy about what we’ve accomplished,” said the current leader of the point drive, Max Burns. “A huge thank you to all those that donated. This program has a big impact on the community in Lane County.”
About 6,000 bags of rice will go into about 6,000 food boxes, with each serving of rice equaling ½ cup.
“That’s probably enough rice to feed a lot of the folks we serve for the next few months,” said McGeorge.
In order to make the donations possible, about ten NRHH members volunteer to help promote the point drive and staff tables where students scan their ID cards and chose how many of their remaining points they wish to donate.
Raether said the organization has discussed the idea of automatically donating points in the future that do not rollover each week. For example, rather than students losing all points that exceed the 50 point rollover limit, those “lost” points would be donated.
“It’s an ambitious goal,” said Raether. “But one that could have profound impacts on the Eugene community.”
McGeorge added that it’s important to understand that hunger is a year round issue. Anyone can donate food or volunteer at Food For Lane County.
She said the point drive was very substantial and served as a “wonderful message to all the people who gave up their points to help someone who doesn’t have a means to put a meal on the table.”
Residents who would like to participate in other events put on by the NRHH can attend meetings in Earl 151 on Mondays at 6 p.m., which often revolve around service, education, and leadership.