Feeding the less fortunate

At first, like many other Penn students, Wharton sophomore Ricky Oxenhandler, College sophomore Becca Elman and College sophomore Jake Werlin simply wanted to use up the extra meals on their meal plans last year.

What began with the simple act of filling up to-go boxes in the dining halls and bringing them to homeless people in Center City has expanded into More than Pennies — a project dedicated to fighting hunger in Philadelphia that also allows students to donate the extra meals on their plans each semester.

Last December More than Pennies staked out Penn dining halls and ultimately collected meals from 1,200 students.

However, it was difficult for the shelters to use all of the bulk donations effectively, Oxenhandler noted. “We wanted to see the food we brought actually being used.”

This year, instead of making a bulk donation to a shelter othe organization put the money it collected toward its first monthly Shelter Days.

On Tuesday, a team of 12 students and several Bon Appetit chefs prepared and served a meal at the Sunday Breakfast Association for 200 shelter residents, Oxenhandler said.

When More than Pennies first partnered with Penn Dining a year ago and began the bulk-food order format, Oxenhandler explained that “it was more about bringing the food to the shelters, instead of interacting with people.”

With the introduction of Shelter Days, More than Pennies has been able to restore the interpersonal contact of delivering dinning hall take-out.

“When the project first began, we were taking boxed lunches to the homeless, and the best part about it was the actual experience of talking to people and seeing their gratitude,” Oxenhandler said.

“We’re trying to put a face to the people that we’re trying to help,” Werlin said. “Now, we’re actually able to develop a significant relationship with those we’re aiding.”

Before Bon Appetit took over dinning on campus, the group began the project by forging an agreement with Aramark whereby students could donate one meal from their meal plans and Aramark would, in turn, make a donation to homeless shelters.

Partnering with Bon Appetit was a “180-degree turn-around” from More than Pennies’ relationship with Aramark, Oxenhandler said. “Bon Appetit was extremely responsive, great to work with.”

The company also fully supported the idea for monthly Shelter Days, he added, stressing that participating in More than Pennies should be an educational experience for students.

In addition to building connections with the homeless and forging a more efficent model, Oxenhandler, Elman and Werlin have also seen a transformation of the More than Pennies team.

“We went from an operation basically out of my dorm room to the complete opposite,” Oxenhandler said.

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