William & Mary Dining incentivizes food donations to fight hunger

The Campus Food Pantry, House of Mercy, and Meals on Wheels received donations this month thanks to the generosity of William & Mary students. Orchestrated by William & Mary Dining by Sodexo, the donations came through various incentive programs.

For all who responded to Sodexo’s annual student dining survey, students were offered a $1 donation per survey to the W&M Campus Food Pantry which provides students, faculty, and staff who are food insecure, and their dependent family members, access to nonperishable food, household products, and personal hygiene products.

Based on responses, Sodexo was able to donate $1,025 to the pantry.

A Swipe Donation Day was held during which students could donate a meal swipe, with over 500 donating. As a result, 200 meals were then donated to the Williamsburg House of Mercy which runs a mobile and stable shelf food pantry and 200 meals to Meals on Wheels which delivers and prepares hot, nutritious meals daily to vulnerable adults and families in the Williamsburg area. Sodexo is also providing approximately 80 meals to Mount Gilead Missionary Baptist Church for the Stop Hunger Drive.

As part of the commitment to bring awareness to food insecurities, students were invited to apply dining dollars that will be donated to the W&M Campus Food Pantry during the week of April 22. The donations garnered $1,730 for the pantry.