UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — All Penn State residential campuses will host Swipe Out Hunger in conjunction with Earth Week 2021. During the week of April 19-23, students who have excess dining dollars left over on their meal plans can donate $5, $10, or $15 of their campus meal plan to the Student Emergency Fund any time they dine on campus.

The Student Emergency Fund is a program that provides short-term financial assistance to students experiencing crisis situations.

When students purchase a meal at any dining commons on their campus, they can tell the cashier how many dining dollars they would like to contribute, in increments of $5. Residential Dining takes care of the rest. It’s an easy way to use extra dining dollars at the end of the academic year while helping care for fellow Penn State students.

Swipe Out Hunger, a national nonprofit committed to ending  college student hunger, works with more than 130 colleges and universities nationwide to implement anti-hunger programs. The group that brought Swipe Out Hunger to Penn State includes task force subcommittee members from Housing and Food Services and Student Affairs as well as students who work with the Lion's Pantry, a food pantry at University Park. 

“This partnership follows recommendations from Penn State President Eric Barron’s Housing and Food Security Task Force,” said Anna Sostarecz, Food Services sustainability coordinator. “And we’re especially excited to partner with Swipe Out Hunger after piloting our own iteration of a dining dollar donation program in 2019. This event highlights some of the human or social elements of sustainability: Caring for each other is an integral part of sustaining the Earth.”