- Associated Press - Saturday, May 5, 2018

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) - There is never a food shortage at a busy college but there is always plenty of waste.

This was something Morningside College computer science sophomore Samuel Padilla noticed when he took a job working at the school’s Weikert Dining Hall during his freshman year.

“You don’t realize how much food is wasted until you see how much is thrown away,” the Bogota, Columbia native told the Sioux City Journal .

Padilla, president of the college’s Sustainable Environment Association (SEA), decided to spearhead a pilot program that collects food which had been prepared but not served to students.

He and his volunteer crew will then pack the food, delivering it to the food pantry at Radiant Life Community Church on a monthly basis.

Radiant Life Community Church will, in turn, use the food for its free, open-to-the-public meals. The remaining food will go to nonprofit organizations like Sioux City’s Warming Shelter, according to the Rev. Doug Collins.

Since the pilot program began in January, SEA members have collected and donated nearly 300 pounds of food, including meat, produce and loaves of bread.

Padilla said the project wouldn’t have gotten off of the ground without the support of Casey Benton, general manager of Sodexo, the food service provider for Morningside.

“More than anything, Casey knew that wasted food wasn’t good for his bottom line,” Padilla said. “Redirecting the prepared food so it would go to the disadvantaged was a win for everybody involved.”

Sterling Stecker, a Morningside freshman from Forest City, was simply happy that the food would stay local.

“Many service projects involved sending food to different parts of the world,” he said. “With this project, the food is prepared here and will help Siouxland families.”

Fellow SEA member Skyler Briggs nodded his head in agreement.

“We all want to do our part when it comes to sustainability,” Briggs, a freshman science education major from Akron, Iowa, said. “This is how we’re making a difference right on campus.”

As he and his fellow SEA members transferred covered containers of frozen food to a Radiant Life Community Church van, Padilla said anyone can make a difference when it comes to the environment.

“Our association is all about promoting an action in order to make a difference,” he explained. “We’re not biologists or sociologists or pretend that we have expertise in food science.”

That’s OK by Padilla.

“Anyone can create a cool project,” he said. “You just need to be willing to do it.”

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Information from: Sioux City Journal, http://www.siouxcityjournal.com

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