To build on the success of Earth Day of DU-ing last Friday, the Center for Sustainability has plenty of initiatives to keep students engaged for the rest of the quarter. These include the DU food pantry, the Food for Food program and community gardening days.
The DU food pantry is a resource for DU students, staff and faculty experiencing food insecurity to “supplement their weekly food supply in times of need.” Participants can order grocery boxes online through the pantry’s website. Low contact pickup is available every Tuesday from 4 to 8 p.m. in Centennial Towers.
The pantry is currently run by Kayla Fatemi-Badi and Paul Ciarcia, who are respectively a junior majoring in sustainability and senior majoring in finance and psychology.
As lead of food programming, Fatemi-Badi covers outreach and destigmatization of the food pantry. The pandemic has made this difficult as many in-person outreach events are no longer possible, but Fatemi-Badi continues to raise awareness through the center’s social media.
Ciarcia leads the food pantry operations team. He is responsible for inventory, budgeting and organizing food drives. Ciarcia manages the Food for Food program, where students can make food donations or participate in trivia in exchange for coupons to local restaurants and coffee shops. This provides an opportunity for students to support both the DU community and university neighborhood.
Both Fatemi-Badi and Ciarcia said they are looking forward to expanding the food pantry’s membership through revamped marketing efforts. They will put informational screens in the Community Commons, hold food drives through campus clubs and spread information through word of mouth.
The center has big plans for next fall. They plan to convert their old space in Centennial Towers into a sustainability market—complete with a used book store, sewing station, food pantry, Gear Garage and year-round thrift shop.
This hub of resources would be available to all DU faculty and students. Second-year intern Sarah Schuller is already excited about it: “I’m especially looking forward to having programs from several different teams all in one location. The hope is that… a student going to check out the thrift store might also learn more about the food pantry or the gear garage while they are there.”
The center also plans to launch Crimson Compost, a program that would make composting accessible to all DU students living on and off-campus. Many students living off-campus do not have access to composting due to compost restrictions in apartment complexes. This will make it much easier for students to reduce their overall waste by converting food waste into organic material that can be used as fertilizer.
To kickstart donations for the sustainability market next fall, the center is planning a big move-out initiative in the coming weeks. Don’t throw anything away just yet, as any furniture too big to fit in your suitcase could look great in someone else’s dorm next fall.
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