WKU News

Last week, WKU Food Recovery, in partnership with the WKU Restaurant Group and the WKU Office of Sustainability, donated 350 pounds of ground coffee and coffee flavorings to the local community.

“About 300 pounds of coffee and coffee flavorings went to first responders at the Medical Center of Bowling Green and health care workers at Hospice of Southern Kentucky,” said Elaine Losekamp, a junior from Bowling Green who studies Agriculture with minors in Geography and Nonprofit Administration. “WKU Restaurant Group asked us to recover leftover coffee and flavorings that would have gone to waste before in-person classes could resume. Dr. Leslie North in the WKU Office of Sustainability suggested that we use the donations to thank health care workers for their sacrifices and hard work during this dangerous and trying time.”

Losekamp said that the group also recovered about 50 pounds of coffee and coffee flavorings, as much as could realistically be used, for Room in the Inn, a nonprofit organization that serves the needs of homeless individuals.

Losekamp is the president of WKU Food Recovery, a chapter of the Food Recovery Network, a national nonprofit that connects chapters of student volunteers who recover food at hundreds of colleges and universities across the United States. 

“Food recovery is very important and gratifying work because it provides an incredibly simple and effective solution for two huge problems, the environmental problem of food waste and the human rights issue of food insecurity.  My chapter always tries to donate recovered food to people and organizations that have a great need for it,” Losekamp said.

WKU Food Recovery regularly recovers food from campus restaurants throughout the academic year. They strive to reduce food waste on campus and in the community while feeding people in need in Bowling Green.  The WKU chapter has been active since the beginning of the 2019 spring semester. The student organization has recovered about 4,000 pounds of food in 196 separate recoveries over the last year.

For more information on WKU Food Recovery, visit www.wku.edu/sustainability, contact wkufoodrecovery@gmail.com or follow @wkufoodrecovery on Instagram.