Almost 800 meal swipes donated to the homeless this semester

A meal of teriyaki chicken with stir-fried vegetables over rice sounds too gourmet to give away, but that’s exactly what More Than Pennies does at a homeless shelter every month.

The Sunday Breakfast Rescue Mission, located at the corner of 13th and Vine streets, provides meals for the homeless every night.

But once a month, MTP volunteers help out at the shelter after collecting students’ spare meal swipes at Penn dining halls. The group served this month’s meals yesterday evening.

Wharton junior Brianna Mariolle, the MTP president, said this semester has been one of their most successful — students donated almost 800 meal swipes.

MTP holds two swipe donation days at the beginning of every semester. Students who donate write down their PennCard information and Bon Appetit deducts those swipes from their accounts for the shelter meals. “It’s kind of a meal-to-meal translation,” said Mariolle.

Despite being limited to just one meal swipe per person, students seem eager to donate more. College junior and frequent MTP volunteer Sarah Routh said, “We get a surprising amount of students who are really eager to donate,” explaining that she has met people who are willing to donate 50 meals. “It’s great to see how students are so interested in the program itself,” she said.

Routh and Mariolle both said the experience is worth the time and effort when they see how grateful people at the shelter are.

“The first couple of times I did it I felt like they were really surprised that college students are so altruistic and willing to commit themselves to this kind of program,” said Routh.

Bon Appetit marketing manager Tatianna Emerson added, “We know it’s a really big deal for the people that live at this shelter when we come, so what we try to do is pump up the menu for them.” Emerson said they try to offer different types of food every time.

Ricky Oxenhandler, Wharton senior and the founder of More Than Pennies, said the idea began in his freshman year when he realized he had about 70 meals left on his PennCard at the end of the semester. “I’d made a conscious effort to use all of them but at some point it’s difficult,” he said.

Oxenhandler and a friend decided to swipe out a few boxed meals from the dining hall. They were going out to dinner in Center City anyway and left 15 minutes early to hand out the meals. They gave out seven meals right away.

With just one meal left, the two headed down to the subway station to give it away, and saw 30 or 40 people they could’ve given it to. “It was pretty striking to have one meal for all those people,” said Oxenhandler.

By the next semester, he had managed to come to an agreement with Bon Appetit and the Sunday Breakfast shelter.

“One of the great things about partnering with Bon Appetit is that they can get good quality stuff for us,” said Mariolle. “The chefs are amazing.”

The staff at Bon Appetit reciprocate the feeling. “The students really drive the program,” said Bon Appetit director of catering Scott Myers.

In addition to the monthly shelter days, MTP also organizes end-of-semester donations in December and May.

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