Senior philosophy major and Founder of Jelly For the Belly, Hayley Niad, works to make sure leftover dining points are used for a charitable cause.
Dining Services has put its foot down.
After a student group successfully collected pre-made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, which students purchased with leftover dining points and donated to Washington-area homeless shelters, Dining Services officials have asked the group to discontinue or shift its strategy for future sandwich-drives, according to group leaders.
Hayley Niad, Jelly for the Belly’s founder and president, said the organization netted about 740 sandwiches during its first drive Sept. 17 — about 2,500 dining points worth — and donated the food to Central Union Mission, a homeless shelter. But Dining Services officials had complaints about the process and may prohibit the student group from operating inside the North Campus Diner in the future, said Niad, a senior philosophy major.
Niad said she contacted Dining Services after the first donation session to express her appreciation for how accommodating the managers were in providing the group with extra ingredients and a table to make the sandwiches inside The Diner. Later, she received an e-mail from Bart Hipple, assistant director of Dining Services, requesting to meet in person.
The two met last week to discuss the group’s mission. Then Niad received a call indicating Dining Services’ philosophy “does not endorse the program” inside The Diner.
Dining Services had some concerns with the last donation drive: They were under the impression that Jelly for the Belly would not be inside The Diner, Hipple said.
“In general, our practice is to keep groups outside of the dining halls,” he said.
But Niad said she thought the remark was referring strictly to solicitation, and added all advertising for the drive was done outside of The Diner, six feet away from the building, which is within Dining Services’ regulations.
“I wasn’t really given a very concrete reason as to why that was,” she said. “I’ve been trying to work with them, and all they’ve been telling me is ‘no.'”
An unconfirmed alternative plan has been created: Ask donors outside of The Diner to purchase food inside, such as a pizza or a sandwich, and to give it to the group outside for donation to local homeless shelters, Niad said. This way, the group will not be entering the dining hall.
Hipple said he doesn’t know what the outcome of the meeting will be for the club.
“At this point, before we meet with Hayley, it would be wrong of me to speculate,” he said. “It’s a great cause.”
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