{"id":961,"date":"2019-12-04T15:19:15","date_gmt":"2019-12-04T15:19:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hqnn.org\/hqpress\/2019\/12\/04\/2019124quinnipiac-makes-strides-to-fight-hunger-in-hamden\/"},"modified":"2020-09-05T19:23:20","modified_gmt":"2020-09-05T19:23:20","slug":"2019124quinnipiac-makes-strides-to-fight-hunger-in-hamden","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hqnn.org\/hqpress\/2019\/12\/04\/2019124quinnipiac-makes-strides-to-fight-hunger-in-hamden\/","title":{"rendered":"Quinnipiac makes strides to fight hunger in Hamden"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Kristen Altmeyer and Victoria Wauters <\/p>\n

Amongst circulating conversations about Quinnipiac\u2019s dining option, Chartwells<\/span><\/a>, regarding undercooked and moldy food, Chartwells and Haven\u2019s Harvest announced their partnership, Dec. 3, 2019, to address hunger in Hamden.<\/p>\n

\u201c5 days a week, QU Dining will pack up excess food from the Mount Carmel cafeteria where our partner, Haven\u2019s Harvest,  has a system for putting together those with excess food with those who need food,\u201d said Sean Duffy, professor of political science and the executive director of the Albert Schweitzer Institute at Quinnipiac. \u201cVolunteers will transport that food from one place to another will ensure that the food is connected to community partners in Hamden.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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A view of the crowd with Quinnipiac\u2019s new live feed of the Piazza.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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Those who are hungry in Hamden are not alone, as this is a nationwide problem. Every year 40% of the nation\u2019s food gets thrown away. That\u2019s about 125 billion tons of food, which is the equivalent of 615 aircraft carriers of food.<\/p>\n

In hopes to resolve this problem, Quinnipiac has made many recent partnerships with Hamden organizations like the Albert Schweitzer Institute, Haven\u2019s Harvest and United Way. One of the biggest ways Quinnipiac has partnered with the community to prevent this issue is with a program called Be Kind, Leave your Food Behind<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis organization creates a very large food drive at the end of the academic year during move out and students have excessive food, instead of throwing it away we collect it.\u201d said Bethany Zemba, vice president and chief of staff at Quinnipiac University. \u201cLast year, 5.5 tons of food was collected and donated to the local non-profits and food pantries and and over the past 12 years this initiative has collectively distributed an estimated 34 tons of food\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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Bethany Zemba at the podium.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Duffy mentioned that estimates put the number of people who are food insecure in the US as high as a \u2153 of the population. Food security is often described as the ability of a household or community to satisfy its need for affordable, nutritious and culturally appropriate food.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is an increasing number of those hungry in the United States. In Hamden, 39% of all households fall into the category called ALICE households,\u201d Duffy said. \u201cThis stands for Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed Households. <\/p>\n

Though difficult to measure, The United Way focuses on households annual and monthly earnings and if they fall between the official poverty level in the United States and the minimal cost of living at a particular location and region.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are the households that are making money, but not enough to get by and so it\u2019s quite possible that these are the households that have difficulty assessing an efficient quantity of affordable, nutritious, and culturally relevant foods,\u201d Duffy said. <\/p>\n

Quinnipiac plans to continue to help the hunger problem in the community, and is in the works to build a vegetable garden on campus in the spring of 2020.<\/p>\n

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