Temple Student Government and Temple’s Cherry Pantry distributed 100 free meal swipe vouchers in the Howard Gittis Student Center last week as the organizations continue their goal of creating a permanent donation system for students.
Last week’s voucher distribution program was developed in collaboration with Aramark, Temple’s culinary services provider. Aramark gave TSG and Cherry Pantry a number of meal swipe vouchers to help students dealing with food insecurity.
“I think this should be a very open conversation going forward,” said Chelsea Lubbe, TSG’s director of health and well-being. “Especially because I think that the way that [a] donation drive would work is that people who are already purchasing a meal plan, are going to be doing just that, donating their extra meal swipes.”
Temple has not yet developed a long-term program that allows students to donate leftover meal swipes despite student advocacy. Local universities, like Drexel University and the University of Pennsylvania, have dining programs that allow students to donate their unused meal swipes. Drexel’s program allows for guest swipes to be donated through an online program, while Penn’s chapter of Swipe Out Hunger hosts drives on campus that allow students to donate.
In recent years, Temple’s chapter of Swipe Out Hunger, a nationwide non-profit that works on college campuses to end student hunger, attempted to form a swipe exchange program to help students donate extra swipes or get free ones.
However, the organization was told by Aramark that Temple’s meal plan system could not handle a program like this, said Lubbe, who has been in contact with university administration about the issue.
Aramark did not immediately respond to The Temple News’ requests for further comment on the topic.
Around 41% of Temple students experience food insecurity, according to a 2023-24 survey by The Hope Center for Student Basic Needs, a research and policy center at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine. The survey also reported that 52% of students who take care of dependents experience food insecurity.
Cherry Pantry seeks to ensure no student goes hungry, especially as food prices keep increasing, said Navon Cooper, a Cherry Pantry intern.
Cherry Pantry has a rotating stock of products, like canned foods and fresh produce, that students can take for free. The pantry has also recently collaborated with the Maternity Care Coalition to bring free formula, diapers and wipes for any Temple students in need of those items.
“I think our overall goal is to ensure that the Temple community as a whole, none of the students are suffering from food insecurities,” Cooper said. “I feel like that’s an issue that people don’t talk about, and we do have a lot of students who come from different backgrounds and different countries.”
In Fall 2019, Aramark and Drexel Campus Dining Program partnered to establish their meal swipe donation program “Feed a Dragon.” Drexel’s meal plans have a mixture of unlimited swipes per term and weekly swipes.
Penn’s dining program has also partnered with its chapter of Swipe Out Hunger to give students the option to donate unused swipes. Penn students purchase a certain amount of meal swipes per semester, while most Temple students have a weekly plan.
In Spring 2024, Aramark reinforced rules at Temple to prohibit meal swipe sharing, as many unlimited meal swipe users were bringing in multiple people to the dining hall. Starting in June 2024, students were able to use meal swipes for guests about three to five times per semester depending on their plan, The Temple News reported.
“So far, we’ve seen a 16% redemption rate, representing 3,675 guest meal swipes,” wrote a Temple Culinary Services spokesperson in a statement to The Temple News. “These efforts, of course, complement our ongoing food donation to The Cherry Pantry.”
Swipe Out Hunger and TSG have been working with Aramark to bring the same donation programs from neighboring universities to Temple. The effort has been supported by members of Temple administration, like Vice President of Student Affairs Jodi Bailey, Lubbe said.
So far, TSG and Cherry Pantry have been partnering with Aramark to give out vouchers as they work towards their goal.
“No one’s going to be getting anything taken [away] or getting any cost forced upon them to pay for somebody’s extra meal,” Lubbe said. “It’s just about sustainability and making sure students have means to an end and just making sure that they’re taken care of.”
Chelsea Lubbe has previously freelanced for The Temple News. They were not involved in the writing, reporting or editing of this article.
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