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Food Security Action Team (FSAT)
Spring/Summer 2024 Digest
The FSAT Digest connects you to up-to-date food security resources for undergraduate and graduate students, spouses, and families. We encourage you all to share these resources broadly to help foster a food secure campus where no student goes to bed hungry!
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With the introduction of the newly worded food security question in the MIT Quality of Life survey and the new MIT branding initiative, our FSAT communications team has refreshed our promotional pieces. This new communications toolkit contains everything you’ll need to promote a food secure campus!
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News and Updates
- As of June 4, 2024, 218 students donated 1,274 meal swipes using the SwipeShare program this semester, and 364 students have donated 2,486 meal swipes this academic year.
- This academic year, the Division of Student Life (DSL) provided over 570 eligible on-campus undergraduate students 15 meal swipes each semester with the Proactive Meal Swipe program.
- The Bridge Meal Plan program issued over 300 students daily Grubhub stipends to help supplement their meals over this winter break.
- During IAP, over 1,000 eligible undergraduate students utilized a weekly stipend in TechCash to supplement their food costs as part of the IAP Flex Dollars Program.
- The Student Experience Fund, administered by the Sloan Student Life Office, supports masters degree students at Sloan (EMBA, LGO, MBA, MBan, MFin, MSMS, SFMBA) that have limited financial resources with assistance around food insecurity and the cost of social events that are integral to the Sloan experience. The fund awards up to $500 per student per semester. Since its inception in December of 2022, the fund has helped over 150 applicants.
Coming Up
- The new grocer in W20 will be Concord Market. Construction will start on June 10th and is anticipated to run through the end of the fall semester. Concord Market is planning a soft open in the middle of IAP, followed by a full opening when the Spring 2025 Semester starts.
- This summer, the FSAT communications group partnered with the Health Promotion Working Group (HPWG) to provide on-campus students our annual online resource guide which includes free activities in the Boston/Cambridge area, food resources, and support services available over the summer. The summer resource guide launched in early June on the DoingWell website. If you have any events, initiatives, or resources you’d like to include please send them to fsatcomms@mit.edu.
- Over IAP, students who participated in the IAP Flex Dollars Program shared that they would like more education on things such as navigating a kitchen, basic cooking skills and nutrition. To meet this need, we are in the beginning stages of developing an IAP Cooking Class with multiple campus partners, potentially as a Physical Education and Wellness course over IAP.
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SwipeShare
The SwipeShare program allows anyone with a meal plan to donate meals to help students in need. If you have the ‘Any 19’ meal plan, you can donate up to 6 ‘Guest Meals’ per semester or, if you have a Block meal plan, you may donate up to 6 of your regular meal swipes.
Please consider donating to SwipeShare, if you are able to. Donation acceptance will resume in the fall.
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Food Guides and Maps
Check out these great guides to food at MIT for undergraduate and graduate students. Use the MIT Food Map, now including the Healthy Fresh vending machines, to explore locations close to campus where you can access food and groceries easily.
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Graduate Student Food Resources
MIT offers resources to individual graduate students and graduate student couples and families centered around making food more accessible and affordable. To request graduate student food resources, please fill out the webform below.
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Undergraduate Emergency Support Fund
Resources are available to help students cover unforeseen, essential expenses, or to obtain enough food for regular meals. S3 can help students cover or subsidize urgent costs such as winter clothing or an emergency trip home.
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