Announcing the Semi-Finalists for the Campus Hunger Challenge
Innovate@BU and the YMCA of Greater Boston are delighted to announce the ten semi-finalists of the 2022 Campus Hunger Challenge! BU students and alumni were tasked with coming up with a solution that would ensure no 19- 26-year-olds in Greater Boston miss a meal.
From awareness campaigns and apps to making the most out of unused food on campus, these teams came up with innovative ways to connect students to meals.
However, only one team can win the Campus Hunger Challenge and the $10,000 cash prize, so keep an eye out for that announcement after April 12!
Meet the Teams
Student ID Benefit Card
The Student Benefits Card allows students to receive financial allocations that can be used to purchase food from on-campus eateries, supermarkets and restaurants. The card also allows students to join a Boston-based non-profit that delivers scratch-made medically tailored food to clients with complex nutritional needs.
!FOOD FOR ALL!
!FOOD FOR ALL! is a website where students can publish their own recipes, buy smaller individualized packaged food items for cheaper prices, and receive grocery shopping guides for affordable meals.
Rightovers: “Leftovers done right.”
Rightovers is a forum that connects food-insecure students with surplus food from catered events. Student organizations can post on this public forum, and prospective consumers can view their options and pick up food.
Food 4 Thought–A PSA Campaign
The Food 4 Thought campaign raises awareness via Instagram. Through the daily “vocab words of the day” posts, they assist followers to learn about established resources in the universities, cities, and states.
TooGoodToGo
This team encourages BU to adopt the TooGoodToGo model, an application allowing businesses with surplus food to list their excess items for sale at a lower price.
Their goal is to merge the BU dining program with TooGoodToGo, allowing BU students to use dining/convenience points through this application.
Food Finder App
The Food Finder App has an interactive map, allowing users to enter their location and search for food banks, community fridges, food pantries, and other accessible food options. It allows users to filter for dietary restrictions and culturally-relevant food options.
Student Food Insecurity Overview and Resource Guide
This team designed a survey research to collect data about food insecurity to raise awareness. They work on data analytics to find out the demographics of food-insecure students and financial estimations of food expenses. Governments and organizations can use this data to resolve food insecurity effectively.
FosteredFood
FosteredFood aims to create a more cohesive system for finding information about community fridges. They plan to mitigate non-profit volunteers’ burnouts and help with supply distribution to decrease food waste.
Adding a Food Insecurity Screener to the University Aid Application
This adds a food insecurity screener in college applications for colleges to better connect students experiencing food insecurity with the resources. Students who go through the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and the College Scholarship Service (CSS) profile when applying to colleges would have new questions to fill out.
Food@BU
Food@ BU wants to become a campus wide initiative that will host events on campus to increase access to healthy food, connect students with opportunities to improve food systems, and raise awareness of available resources. Food@BU website will also provide a resource guide, including BU campus resources, community resources, federal food access programs, etc.
