Sahaja Ampolu

Bearcats Food Recovery Network (BFRN): A volunteer-based organization functioning as a chapter of the National Food Recovery Network. The primary goal of this organization is packaging leftover food from UC dining halls, Calhoun street restaurants and on-campus franchises and transporting it to non-profit homeless shelters near campus and food insecure students on campus. The secondary goal is to increase awareness of the problem of food waste and hunger in our community among students so that they can be motivated to practice sustainability as well.

• Why I Joined BFRN: In Fall 2019, I took an honors seminar called “Inquiry to Innovation: Zero Waste, Zero Hunger” sponsored by the Kroger Corporation. I learned and researched about how food waste negatively contributes to methane gases and disturbs our environment. I also learned that in Cincinnati, it is estimated that 33% of families are food insecure. The Bearcats Pantry estimates that roughly 8,000 UC students face food insecurity. Apparent from this, there was a lot of food being wasted and there were a lot of people hungry, so my peers and I created this organization to bridge the gap between them.

• What I learned from the UHP Roundtable: We created BFRN in September of this fall semester. My executive role is Vice President of External Relations, so I oversee communications to the national network, non-profit organizations and student groups on campus. As a new student leader, I was very confused on how to recruit, advocate and lead students. Through the UHP Roundtable opportunity, I learned so many recruitment strategies (listserv emails, host info sessions, flyers on social media). Along with this, we discussed how to hold virtual meetings and how to keep them engaging, informational and most importantly, inclusive. It was encouraging to see that other student leaders had some of the same questions/problems that I had. I am so happy that I joined this group of students and I can’t wait to share all of the great strategies and ideas to my student organization.