Emory Food Chain | Emory University

Emory Food Chain

Emory Food Chain (EFC) is a student run organization that reduces food waste on Emory’s campus and fights hunger in our greater Atlanta community. We collect food from our campus dining halls and local grocery stores that would otherwise go to waste and donate it to shelters and other community partners .

Our organization runs on many different shifts made possible by student volunteers. Our pick up shifts recover food from dining halls and grocery stores that our delivery and service shifts bring to our community partners. Our gardening shifts maintain the Cox Hall garden that is part of Emory’s Educational Garden program. The produce from our garden is then used in our cooking shifts to create meals that are also donated to community partners.

During the 2017-2018 school year, Emory Food Chain was able to repurpose 8,870 pounds of food which created roughly 7,400 meals for food insecure individuals in our greater Atlanta community.

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Food Chain Students

	Name: Madi Mainman Position: President Year: Senior Major: Concentrating in Organization and Management at Goizueta and Majoring in Sociology in the College of Arts and Sciences. Why EFC: EFC has been an integral part of my Emory experience since joining a cooking shift in the fall of my freshman year. Every Saturday morning that semester I met with a small group of students and we cooked a meal together. It was awesome to meet some new people while making a tangible difference in our community. Since then, EFC has allowed me to grow as a leader and create many lifelong friendships.
	Name: Wendy Lee Position: Event Executive Year: Senior Major: Biology and a minor in Nutrition Science Why EFC: Food insecurity and food waste and their connections to health have always been my area of interest. I’m always striving to fight for equal access to nutritious foods for people of lower socioeconomic status. I also love playing around with different ingredients and making them into incredible dishes. EFC allows me to do both and meet people who share the same passion.
	Name: Joshua Cummings Position: PR Executive Year: Junior Major: Concentrating in Marketing and ISOM at the Goizueta Business School Why EFC: EFC has been my favorite way to express myself and explore my interests since coming to Emory. I have been on both the pick-up team and the delivery team and I have come to realize the real benefits this club has on the Atlanta community. Eradicating food hunger in our community has become passion and goal I am fighting for the rest of my time at Emory and beyond.
	Name: Elise Kulers Position: Gardening Executive Year: Junior Major: Anthropology and Environmental Science Why EFC: The mission of EFC addresses the irony of an appalling amount of food waste alongside the prevalence of food insecurity. I am excited to be a part of this organization because of their efforts to redistribute resources in a dignified way, while supporting and building relationships with the greater Atlanta community and connecting more directly to Emory’s place in the food system.
	Name: Rebecca Bui Position: Pickup Executive Year: Junior Major: Biology Why EFC: I joined EFC to make a positive and direct impact on the community. Since becoming a member and volunteering in the pickup shift, I’ve been amazed by how much food we have been able to save from being thrown out for redistribution. This organization has enabled me to develop and maintain meaningful relationships with other members and the dining hall staff while working toward creating a more sustainable future.
	Name: Shlok Sarin Position: Delivery Executive Year: Junior Major: Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology and Chemistry Why EFC: I have been a part of EFC every semester during my time at Emory. Ever since I first saw how much food waste we have as just a college community, I have made it my goal to help out every week to make sure the food gets around the Atlanta area. Having been a part of the pickup and delivery shifts, I hope to continue my work with EFC to make sure we distribute food all around to those who are not fortunate enough to not have to worry about receiving any meal at any time of the day.
	Name: Aneesha Maini Position: Treasurer Year: Junior Major: Chemistry and Sociology Why EFC: I first joined EFC on a recommendation from a friend who claimed that joining the organization was the one of the best decisions he made in college. Little did I know that I would have a very similar experience. When I joined as a member of the pickup shift, I had the opportunity to see this organization work cohesively to help combat not only the problem that many college campuses face with food waste but also help feed those less fortunate. EFC allowed me to really see the impact we were making on the community while at the same time form friendships with other members of the organization as well as good relationships with dining hall staff.
	Name: Madeline Jones Position: Service Executive Year: Sophomore Major: QSS with a concentration in Biology Why EFC: All through middle and high school I held a place in my heart for the food insecure. Starting community gardens, organizations at school, and food drives for the city, ensuring that people have access to healthy foods to maintain and advance their mental and physical acuity has always been a focus of mine. When I first stepped on Emory’s campus, I was determined to find an organization that was dedicated to eradicating hunger. Becoming a part of EFC’s service shifts introduced me to other students passionate not only about ending hunger, but also about sustainability, connected me to the community, and enabled me to be a part of something making an incredible impact on Atlanta and surrounding neighborhoods.
	Name: Lucie Downer Position: Kitchen Executive Year: Junior Major: Biology Why EFC: I got involved with EFC in my second semester of Freshman year. I was really interested in the dual solution that the organization came up with. I loved that the organization dealt with the environmental issues of food waste but also used this issue to solve another of food insecurity.
	Name: Genevieve Wilson Position: Service Executive Year: Sophomore Major: Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology Why EFC: In a country where food is often in surplus, the simple idea of alleviating hunger due to scarcity does not speak to the complexity of the entire problem that we face. The predicament results from many intertwined factors, generating major disparities in access to wholesome and nutritious meals and resulting in the wasting of resources on a massive scale. EFC has developed a creative response to this issue, and I’m thrilled to be involved in this critically important work in my very own community. As a Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology major, my concern with food inequalities stems from the impact of nutrition on the brain. Without access to adequate nutrition, how can anyone have the ability to learn, grow, and flourish where they are planted?
	Name: Ben Gabanic Position: Vice President Year: Junior Major: Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology, Chemistry Why EFC: I think EFC is an amazing club because it is a combination of social justice and sustainability. Both of which have been important to me since my first year of high school where we would do essentially what we do with EFC in repurposing and delivering food to those in need. I chose to be a part of the service shift my first and second years at Emory because nothing beats the relationships that are built with members of the Atlanta community over something as simple as a plate of food.