Gettysburg College students receive $10,000 for food-recycling program

GETTYSBURG, Pa. - Gettysburg College students Aimee George, Louisa Polos and Lia Nigro received a $10,000 grant to fund a project that will turn leftover food from the college's dining services and local restaurants into meals for sharing at community organizations.

The project, "grEAT: Gettysburg's Ready to EAT," has been chosen as one of the "100 Projects for Peace" sponsored by the Davis United World College Scholars Program. The students will work this summer to establish a system where extra food from Gettysburg College's dining venues and local restaurants will be collected, repackaged and stored, and then reheated and delivered to community organizations, such as the Gettysburg Homeless Shelter, for distribution. The students plan to partner with the college's Center for Public Service and Peace Club, and a community organization that provides local support, South Central Community Action Program. The students will use the grant money to purchase start-up supplies, such as a walk-in refrigerator, freezer, storage bins and containers.

"Peace is in any living environment," said George, a sophomore majoring in globalization studies and minoring in peace and justice studies. "Working together to provide meals to those who wouldn't be able to do so for themselves - that's peace. Creating the opportunity is peace in action."

"100 Projects for Peace" was an invitation to all undergraduates enrolled at any of the 76 American colleges and universities in the Davis United World College Scholars Program to design grassroots projects that build peace in the 21st century. The grant money was made possible by Kathryn Wasserman Davis, an internationalist and philanthropist, who is about to turn 100 years old._Davis, mother of Shelby M.C. Davis who funds the Davis UWC Scholars Program, chose to celebrate her centennial birthday by committing $1 million for program. "I want to use my 100th birthday to help young people launch some immediate initiatives - things that they can do during the summer of 2007 - that will bring new thinking to the prospects of peace in the world," said Davis.

Gettysburg College is a highly selective four-year residential college of liberal arts and sciences with approximately 2,600 students. It is located on a 200-acre campus adjacent to Gettysburg National Military Park in Pennsylvania. The college was founded in 1832.

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