By Maggie Li Contributing Writer
For Northwestern students, their WildCARD is their library card, football ticket and meal ticket all-in-one.
As of last year, it's also a way to fight hunger among Chicago's needy.
When students needed to use up extra meal points at the end of the quarter, they bought more than $5,000 of food items for charity. The group's founders said they hope to top that amount this year.
Swipe Out Hunger organized the food drive started last year. The group was founded by recent Weinberg alumnae Holly Weis and Ioanna Georgopoulos and Medill senior Robbie Brenner.
"The response was really incredible," Weis said. "We had several students that each donated close to 100 points or more."
During its first year in action, the program roused enough student support to fill 25 large boxes of food for the Greater Chicago Food Depository, an umbrella organization that collects food on behalf of the Salvation Army.
Swipe Out Hunger provides a medium for students to donate food at the end of each quarter. Instead of blowing extra meal points on needless snacks, students can use them to buy non-perishables for those in need. With help from student volunteers, collection stations are set up at Foster-Walker Complex, 1835 Hinman, Norris University Center and Lisa's Café during Reading Week and Finals Week.
"I thought it was one of the best ideas I've experienced on campus," said Rebecca Davis, a Music and Weinberg junior. "I have had … plenty of quarters where I had tons of points and was forced to buy out the contents of Norris, some of which I didn't necessarily want, just so I wasn't wasting my money."
While promoting the program near collection stations, Swipe Out Hunger coordinators also hand out quarter sheets as a guide to what items from C-stores are most useful to the Salvation Army. These quarter sheets list combinations of items that total the price of one meal for students with extra meals to spend.
"That way people would know exactly where their donations were going, and it put a face on the program," Georgopoulos said. "Students then entered the C-stores, purchased the items, often following our recommended combinations, and dropped them in our boxes on their way out."
Collection items are immediately transported to a secure location until Salvation Army representatives are able to pick them up. This ensures that no donations are stolen.
"We worked with the Salvation Army of Uptown," Brenner said. "Operating as a soup kitchen, homeless shelter and food pantry, the organization serves 18,000 meals a month and delivers groceries to 300 families each month."
Student participation in the Swipe Out Hunger initiative varied around campus. The most productive collection stations were 1835 Hinman and Lisa's Café. As Finals Week drew nearer the end, donations increased considerably.
"Many students were leaving campus and wanted to blow their points so they wouldn't be wasted," Weis said. "In fact, some students were even willing to donate non-perishables that they had originally bought earlier in the year for themselves."
Due to last year's success and student support, Swipe Out Hunger will continue its food drive this year without any significant changes.
"We anticipate that many more students will volunteer their time and points to help this cause," Weis said. "Perhaps instead of wasting money and buying unnecessary items, students can instead spend their money to help feed the needy."
Reach Maggie Li at m-li-1@northwestern.edu.
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