NJ university helps rescue thousands of meals from the trash to feed the hungry

🍽️ Seton Hall teams up with Table to Table to fight hunger and food waste in Essex County.

🍽️  Volunteers and students deliver rescued meals to shelters.

🍽️  Inspired by a grad student’s vision, the program continues to grow and feed the community.

SOUTH ORANGE — Last fall, Seton Hall University partnered with Table to Table, an Essex County food rescue organization, to help combat food insecurity and waste in the community.

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Weekly food rescues keep meals out of landfills

Every Friday, volunteers from the organization come to the South Orange campus to pick up trays of uneaten and extra food, cooked by chefs from campus food service provider, Gourmet Dining Services, that is meant for its students, said Linda Karten, senior director of marketing and communications in University Relations at Seton Hall.

The food that would otherwise be thrown away is instead given away through food rescuers who come to campus and take it to people in need at churches, homeless shelters, and battered women’s shelters around Essex County, she said.

Seton Hall students join the fight against hunger

Gourmet Dining Services is responsible for putting the trays of food together to donate them through Table to Table. Many sororities have also gotten involved with the program, helping to load up trays of food in their cars to drive over to Table to Table, located in Saddle Brook.

Some of those dishes include baked chicken, meatballs and gravy, Salisbury steak, eggplant parmesan, and fish.

“The food is prepared and within a day or so, donated, so everything is very food-safe and goes out right away into the community,” Karten said.

Graduate student’s idea sparks lasting campus change

The inspiration behind the Table to Table initiative came from a Seton Hall graduate student, Shayne Simmons, who was very focused on food insecurity. His work as a grad student focused on that, Karten said. He has since graduated, and the program has been passed on to others like Karten, who plan to keep it going.

Karten says the program aligns with Seton Hall’s mission to reduce food waste.

Helping the hungry while protecting the planet

"We’re trying to avoid adding food to landfills, and we’re also helping people in need, who are hungry and food insecure, and giving them an opportunity to have something good to eat,” Karten said.

“So, we’re relieving hunger, we’re reducing waste, and we’re rescuing food, and we’re doing it in concert with other organizations, and we’re also partnering with our students who become volunteers, so a lot of people are involved in doing good,” she added.

Anyone interested in getting involved can download the Table to Table app to learn how to become a food rescuer or to donate food to community shelters and organizations around the county.

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