Starting Monday, Feb. 5, the Office of Community Engagement began its donation campaign “SHU Shares.” This program was established in 2021 and aims to raise awareness towards and address food insecurity within the Sacred Heart community.
According to their site, SHU Shares is an initiative that strives toward inclusivity on campus by helping to remove the stigma associated with food insecurity.
Source: Caleb Jean-Pierre’25, staff photographer.
Students dine at Thea’s Abbey, one of the many dining halls in which meal swipes can be used.
Source: Instagram, @shu_shares
“Back in 2021, some of the professors and deans of the different colleges and schools had been hearing from some of their students of issues of food insecurity, primarily because of economic hardships coming out of COVID, and students were sacrificing meals during the day to afford their basic academic needs on campus,” said Annie Johnson, Director of the Office of Community Engagement.
A team consisting of the Dean of Students, Student Life, SHU Dining Services, the Alumni Engagement Team, Marketing Operations, the Board of Trustees, and the IT team contributed on-campus resources or financial contributions to get the program up and running.
According to the SHU Shares site, contactless donations can be made to students in need, who may make confidential requests online.
Students can participate by clicking the “Donate Meal Swipes” button on their site or any mobile device, via QR codes, that can be found across campus. Monetary donations are also welcome.
All requests are confidential and given based on meal swipe availability. Participation does not affect financial aid or scholarships and swipes can be requested between five and 20 meal swipes at a time.
According to the SHU Shares site, all requests will be reviewed within 24 business hours. Eligible students will have meal swipes added directly to their SHU card and will be notified by email.
“For the past six semesters, SHU Shares has been able to award 7,000 swipes to students, for around 620 recipients over the last three years,” said Johnson.
Instrumental to the advertisement of the donation campaign on campus, the SHU Student Government’s Community and Inclusion Board has helped SHU Shares with the on-ground promotion of the donation campaign to get the word out. The Community and Inclusion Board is a Student Government division that connects the SHU community with each other and the wider Bridgeport community.
Senior Emma Grady, Director of the Community and Inclusion Board, said, “For this month of promotion, the Community and Inclusion Board will be doing table times throughout the month to promote SHU Shares to the student community and ways they can participate.”
Additionally, Johnson said how it is motivating that not only are there financial contributions from outside participants, but students will donate from their meal plans, crediting over 1000 student donors and their contributions to the swipes they were able to award over the past three years.
“SHU Shares is a great opportunity to help your peers and a resource for people to fully utilize the dining options while on campus,” said Grady.
Sophomore and Vice President of the Gender Sexuality Alliance, William Conway said, “The buy-in from all areas of the campus community dedicated to service, inclusivity, and engagement in addressing food insecurity on campus, and continued student support is key to the success of SHU Shares.”
“I think it is a good thing. It is representative of this campus’ values and that we are dedicated to helping others out and lifting each other up,” said Conway.
Donations to SHU Shares can be made Feb. 5-29. For more information on SHU Shares, how to donate, and other additional resources, visit https://www.sacredheart. edu/offices–departments-directory/community- engagement/volunteer-programs/shu-shares/.
