University of Alabama students can continue to donate meals from their meal plans through Student2Student, a program designed by the Student Government Association to assist those in need. The SGA hopes to renew interest in the program by beginning a new campaign known as “Got Meals?”
Student2Student, enacted by the SGA in 2010, has not seen the feedback that was hoped for. The “Got Meals?” campaign was set in motion in order to raise awareness for the program and to reintroduce it to students, SGA Executive Secretary Brielle Appelbaum said.
“The original thought was to help students out through the Student Government, but it really kind of fizzled out, and not that many people know about it,” Appelbaum said. “What we wanted to do this year was revamp the program, and keep the original programming in place that we had, but make it really cool and really fun to use.”
The Student2Student program has seen some success. More than 200 meals were donated during the summertime, and the initative served 70 Oakdale Elementary School students a Thanksgiving meal through the Meaningful Meals Thanksgiving program.
“We’re incentivizing students through Twitter; we’re giving students scholarships out for the people who find the most donated meals throughout their friends, and we’re going to the dining halls and putting up QR codes that will take you straight to the ‘donate a meal’ page; it’s going to be really great and super interactive,” Appelbaum said.
“Got Meals?” has gotten off to a less than perfect start with various technical problems. Wanting to give students a one-click link to the donation form on their myBama pages has proven harder than it sounds, Appelbaum said.
While they face technical issues, Bama Dining is continuing on with its strong support of the program. In a press release in early November, Bama Dining Marketing Director Kelsey Faust explained the support behind Student2Student.
“The Student2Student meal donation program is something that Bama Dining and the University have always been passionate about,” Faust said. “I think the ‘Got Meals?’ campaign is a great revamp of the program that we need in order for students to realize how easy it is to help their fellow students.”
SGA Executive Press Secretary Meagan Bryant added that the program is not something students should only pay attention to during the holidays.
“Right now is the time of year where so many people are donating to food banks,” Bryant said. “We just had Beat Auburn Beat Hunger, people donate at Salvation Army on Thanksgiving, but this campaign is something that will hopefully withstand the test of time and that will continue every year because people are hungry no matter whether it’s the holiday season or not.”
