In addition, countless Rutgers faculty, students, staff and alumni are donating their time and energies on behalf of Rutgers Against Hunger, a universitywide initiative that collects food and money for distribution to emergency food pantries and food banks throughout New Jersey. Since its inception last year, Rutgers Against Hunger has raised more than $107,000 and collected more than 27 tons of food donated by members of the Rutgers community. We encourage anyone who would like to participate in Rutgers Against Hunger to visit our Web site, rah.rutgers.edu.
The university continues to have health and sanitary concerns about students giving out prepared meals for distribution by a third party. Officials at Elijah’s Promise of New Brunswick, which provides nutritious meals and other services for low-income people across Central New Jersey, have said that they cannot distribute these prepared meals to the individuals they serve because of health code considerations. These concerns prompted the university to discontinue the practice of allowing students to use their meal-swipe cards to take out two meals at a time from university dining halls.
Since then, some students have expressed concerns about this change. These students have told us that taking out two meals at a time gave them more flexibility to eat well while attending to their studies and other responsibilities.
In response to these concerns, the university has resumed the practice of allowing students to take out two meals at a time. In addition, beginning next semester Rutgers will permit students who want to contribute to Elijah’s Promise to donate the cash equivalent of a meal swipe to Elijah’s Promise. This will provide to needy citizens of New Jersey a donation that is safe, healthy and within the standards that are acceptable to the charity.
Media Contact: Greg Trevor
732-932-7084, ext. 623
E-mail: gtrevor@ur.rutgers.edu