Tyler White, an assistant professor of practice and director of UT’s Culinary Institute, spoke with the Rotary Club of Knoxville about the food4VOLS program, which collects food from campus dining halls and provides 650 meals a day, free of charge, at six locations.
“We reduce food waste and food insecurity on the UT campus,” White said to the Rotarians. “One in three UT students face food insecurity, and there is a lot of food waste— nearly 120,000 pounds of edible food was recovered in 2022. Surprisingly, grad students and international students are some of those who use Food4Vols the most.”
White started the Food4Vols in 2020. It uses volunteers and is not funded by UT. Its only staff member is White’s father, Andrew.
“Here’s how Food4Vols works,” said White. “We reclaim food from VolDining, sporting events, UT farms, and the UT Grow Lab. We repurpose reclaimed food at the UT Culinary Institute, leveraging student involvement, to create nutritionally balanced, ready-to-eat meals that only need a microwave to heat up. They reduce food waste and revive food-insecure students by offering free, ready-to-eat meals at the Big Orange Pantry at the Student Union.”
The meals are prepared by student volunteers. The meals are distributed in six locations around campus:
- The Big Orange Pantry
- Veterans Success Center
- Communications Building
- Pendergrass Library on the Ag campus
- The Jessie Harris Building
- The Free Store.
Also, some 10 community partners, including Second Harvest, receive meals daily.
Food4Vols uses eco-friendly, biodegradable containers. Each meal costs 22 cents. As noted, the program is self-funded and gets no money from the university.
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