Kent State Opens Ohio’s First Campus Kitchen Feb. 23

The Campus Kitchen at Kent State University Celebrates its Grand Opening Feb. 23

The Campus Kitchen at Kent State University, part of a national food recovery effort to feed hungry families, will celebrate its grand opening with a public event Feb. 23 at 5 p.m. The event will take place in the Beall Hall cafeteria on the building’s second floor, and will feature foods representative of those that will be prepared in The Campus Kitchen at Kent State.

The Campus Kitchens Project is a national network of college campuses that recovers food items from cafeterias and events and prepares hot meals to feed the needy in local communities. There are approximately 30 Campus Kitchen sites in the United States; Kent State is the only college in Ohio chosen to participate in the project.

The Campus Kitchen at Kent State will recover food from cafeterias and community donations and engage students as volunteers to prepare and deliver meals to local feeding programs. The kitchens are entirely student run with students planning menus, collecting food, running cooking shifts and organizing meal delivery. Volunteers are trained in food recovery, safe food handling and learn basic cooking techniques.

The Campus Kitchen at Kent State will receive $15,000 from the national Campus Kitchens Project, which will help the kitchen open and begin operations.

In addition, members of the campus community who host large events where food is served are encouraged to become part of the Campus Kitchens effort by contacting The Campus Kitchen at Kent State to recover food after an event concludes.

Since 2001, Campus Kitchens has engaged more than 25,000 student volunteers in recovering more than one million pounds of donated food and delivered one million meals to their communities. The national effort is supported by the Walmart Foundation, Sodexo, General Mills and the Corporation for National and Community Service. More information on the Campus Kitchens Project is available at www.campuskitchens.org.

Visit and “like” The Campus Kitchen at Kent State on Facebook at www.facebook.com/pages/The-Campus-Kitchen-at-Kent-State-University/155651411139256.

To watch a video about the project, go to www.kent.edu/news/video/campuskitchen.cfm.

For additional information about the grand opening event or to volunteer for The Campus Kitchen at Kent State University project, contact Ann Gosky at agosky@kent.edu.

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Photo Caption:
Kent State University lecturer and chef Ed Hoegler shows students the workings of a large commercial kitchen in university’s Beall Hall. The kitchen will be used for The Campus Kitchen at Kent State University.

Media Contacts:
Ann Gosky, agosky@kent.edu, 330-672-4050
Kimberley Sirk, ksirk@kent.edu, 330-672-8514