Cardboard donation boxes line the front desks of residence halls as Kansas State prepares its annual “Move Out for Hunger” drive from May 12–17.

The initiative encourages students to donate unopened, non-perishable food, unused hygiene items and gently used kitchen supplies rather than discard them during move-out week. 

Shelly Williams, Morrison Family Director of Cats’ Cupboard, said the drive is not just for reducing food waste, but for meeting student needs year-round.

“This really just is an easy, convenient and all-around helpful opportunity for [students] to donate instead of throwing those items away,” Williams said. “Certainly, when students see those types of items available at Cats’ Cupboard, they get really excited because we don’t always have them available, and the timing is just right as we’re going into fall semester.”

Donation bins are located in all residence hall lobbies, as well as in the Derby Dining Center classroom and Kramer’s Meadowlark Classroom.

Assistant coordinator for departmental initiatives Chipo Kambarami said the two dining hall locations were selected to help make pickup coordination easier among resident hall staff and Cats’ Cupboard.

“[It’s] a little bit more accommodating for our staff, and also so that it’s more centralized for Cats’ Cupboard to go pick up the donations that we will have; they’re going to have two centralized locations here on campus,” Kambarami said. “They’re really trying their best with advertising it and making sure that it’s clear that this is an option for students. We’re hoping that this just gets a little bit more engagement because we don’t want the kids throwing things away — especially if it can be donated.”

Williams said the event is facilitated by Cats’ Cupboard Ambassadors, a team of student volunteers who lead campus food security initiatives.

“[They are] a group of very engaged, very passionate students that assist with multiple things, all Cats’ Cupboard related,” Williams said.

Hilary Tallman, a senior in life sciences and president of Cats’ Cupboard Ambassadors, said this year’s drive includes a food collection competition among campus Greek organizations to increase donations.

“Essentially, we just partner with the residence halls during the week of finals when people are finishing up and moving out,” Tallman said. “We also partner with the sororities and fraternities, and we’ve made a competition this year, so we’re hoping that we’ll get a little bit more from them than we did last year, which should be fun.”

Williams, who has a background in food recovery and waste reduction, said this initiative is an item of particular interest to her. 

“This project is really actually quite near and dear to my heart because it helps in two different ways,” Williams said. “Not only does it elevate food security on campus for K-Staters, but it also provides that opportunity for them to donate products that would otherwise potentially be wasted and reduces that impact. I don’t like to see things go to waste that still have plenty of life in them.”

Volunteers are needed to help collect and sort donations throughout the week. Students interested in volunteering can find more details at the Cats’ Cupboard website or sign up using the QR code on flyers around campus.