Written by Imogen Page, MSW Intern with Campus Kitchen

On the ground floor of the Anderson residence hall, the Augsburg Campus Cupboard is buzzing with activity. A student worker reminds fellow Auggies to grab a box or a bag for their free groceries, and around 15 students are shopping in Augsburg’s free food cupboard.

Today, there is plenty of fresh produce – salad greens, apples and pears, onions and potatoes in addition to fresh herbs and berries. A refrigerator stands full of milk, yogurt, cheese, and dairy alternatives, and a freezer contains frozen chicken, ready-to-eat meals, and tortillas. The week before, the cupboard distributed a shipment of halal beef, goat meat, and salmon. Students browse canned goods, fresh bread, dried beans, pasta, and rice in addition to coconut milk, oil, vinegar, ketchup, fish sauce, Tabasco, and salad dressings. 

“These condiments literally kill, dude” one student says to his friend as they choose from the shelves.

This is all part of the daily routine at the Campus Kitchen, where a team of student workers, interns, and staff operate the Campus Cupboard six days a week. We’re always busy – whether unloading boxes of produce from our trusty old van, stocking shelves, distributing hot meals and groceries to our neighbors, or cooking together in the food lab. 

Abi Hilden at the Augsburg Echo recently covered Campus Kitchen’s work, interviewing student worker Heldon Centellas about the cooking workshops, grocery distribution, SNAP application help and other work we do in our community.

“During the summer and fall months on Saturdays, we glean leftover produce from local farmers at the Mill City Farmers Market and redistribute it to our neighbors at Riverside Plaza! On Fridays during the majority of the year, we help distribute free produce to our neighbors there!” shares Centellas. In addition to these seasonal efforts, Campus Kitchen “[has] a community garden for people to grow their own food behind the Hagfors building, meal deliveries to Ebenezer Towers and Bethany Church, serving warm food at the Brian Coyle Center, provide assistance in SNAP applications, host giveaways, have open Food Lab hours, offer Cupboard online orders, and more!”

Our work at Campus Kitchen is possible because of support from Augsburg’s community. With growing food insecurity in our communities and the rising price of basic essentials, we need your help to keep providing nutritious food in our community. Your donation today helps to keep our community well-fed, healthy, and thriving. You can give here, and designate your gift to “Campus Cupboard.”

The Sabo Center’s Campus Kitchen program invites you to support our 2022 Give to the Max fundraiser. This year, we are raising funds for two important initiatives: The Augsburg Campus Cupboard and food access programming in Cedar-Riverside.

First, the Campus Cupboard provides free groceries to Augsburg students. Campus Cupboard use has rapidly expanded in the last three years, in response to increased food insecurity among Augsburg’s diverse student population. In 2019, an average of 50 students visited the Campus Cupboard to pick up free groceries each week. By September 2022, that average increased to 220 students per week. We regularly receive feedback from our students that the groceries we provide make a huge difference in their ability to access high-quality, healthy foods. Many students and their families now see this service as a critical piece of meeting their basic food needs.

In order to expand this work, we are raising funds to purchase culturally appropriate food items for our diverse student population. With your support we will be able to offer a wider variety of foods, providing our students with the specific staple foods they request regularly.

Second, we are seeking support for our food access and education work in our surrounding community of Cedar-Riverside. The Campus Kitchen program provides free meals, fresh produce, and cooking programming for our neighbors in Cedar-Riverside. A $60 donation covers supplies needed for one cooking class for neighborhood youth. Your donation will make a significant difference in our ability to meet the growing and diverse food needs of Augsburg’s student body and our neighbors in Cedar-Riverside.

Please support this work with a donation here.

Thank you for your generosity.

Many incredible student leaders have worked with Augsburg’s Campus Kitchen (CK) program over the years. Current CK student leaders Alana Goodson and Chouneng Khang interviewed several CK alumni to learn more about their experiences with the program. 

Yasmin ‘2015: Biology Major and Religion Minor

What sparked your interest in Campus Kitchen?

• I wanted to be a part of helping our neighbors in need. 
• I love what Campus Kitchen stands for! I admire its mission to serve the community that surrounds the campus by making healthy food accessible.

What was your role with CK?

• My role was to help build sustainability and capacity building. I recruited volunteers, organized events that educated others about food equity and provided ways people could access healthy foods.  
• I attended food deliveries at sites like Ebenezer Towers and Brian Coyle. 
• I hosted an event where I invited special speaker LaDonna Redmond, a food justice advocate to discuss issues surrounding food equity. 
• I helped with fundraising through Give to the Max for Campus Kitchen. 
• I explored different modalities for volunteers to participate in reflection so that volunteers get a chance to understand the impact of their volunteering. 
• I worked in the community garden. I coordinated with gardeners about their plots and addressed any issues that they had.  

 What were some of the highlights of your time with CK?

• I attended the Food Waste & Hunger Summit in Arkansas. I learned about different ways we can combat ending hunger and poverty. It was a fun road trip! At the end of my year of service, I also presented at the 2016 Nonprofit Leadership Conference about my experience with Campus Kitchen and Health Commons. The theme of the conference was courageous engagement across differences which fit perfectly with my experience!

• I learned leadership, communication, time management, planning & organizing, teamwork, conflict resolution, empathy, adaptability & flexibility, networking, and cultural awareness.

What are you up to now? How does it connect to CK?

• I’m attending the American University of Antigua School of Medicine. I’m currently in my 3rd year of clinical rotations in New York.  
• Working with Campus Kitchen solidified my pursuit in working in community health and focusing on serving underrepresented communities. 

Advice for current, future, past CK interns/volunteers?

• Get to know the community you’re serving by building relationships. Take time to listen to community members’ stories– their stories matter.
• Don’t be afraid to ask questions if you have any cultural or religious differences when making food and delivering food with the community members. They love having conversations with students. 

Because of the stay at home order to prevent the spread of COVID-19, student employees of the Sabo Center are writing about the work they do. This entry is from Ed Loubaki. If you would like to support Campus Kitchen’s work, feel free to donate through Augsburg’s donation page. You can designate your donation to Other>Campus Kitchen.

Hello, my name is Ed Loubaki, my pronouns are she/her/ hers. I am a first-year student and I work with the Campus Kitchen in the Sabo Center. Through Campus Kitchen, we work to provide food that is healthy and accessible. The Campus Cupboard food shelf is open every weekday, and it’s relieving for many Augsburg students that there’s a place on campus to access free food. Augsburg is quite fortunate to have Campus Kitchen because its students and surrounding comm

unity get to enjoy meals and fresh produce together. As a Campus Kitchen student employee, I love that we work to reduce food waste on campus and address food insecurity in our community. Campus Kitchen at Augsburg works hard to not only care for Augsburg, but also for the surrounding community at Ebenezer Tower Apartments, Trinity Lutheran Congregation, and the Brian Coyle Community Center.

My experience at Ebenezer Tower and the Brian Coyle Center has been beyond amazing. It did not take long to bond with community members. Every meal shift brings me joy. Each meal spices up the conversations, and sometimes it’s hard to leave. Hearing laughter here and there makes the job extra fun. At Ebenezer, I get to hear stories that soothe me and help me make better decisions in the future. These seniors are like the grandparents I never had; they make me feel like their own. Brian Coyle, on the other hand, has this energy that is incredible. You just can’t turn from it. At times, my urge to do work with Campus Kitchen increases because it doesn’t even feel like work – it feels like a great meal with friends and family. I’m looking forward to the time when we can gather again in-person to enjoy food and conversation together.

The Sabo Center is proud to co-sponsor this benefit, please join us.

The Cedar Cultural Center, Augsburg University, and KFAI present:

630 CEDAR AVE FIRE BENEFIT with Thunder Band, Brass Messengers, Becky Kapell and The Fat 6, Jack Klatt, Amjet Kemet, Tatum and Tessa, Ray Barnard & Clark Adams, and more

Saturday, January 11th, 2020 / Doors 7:00pm / Show 7:30pm

Standing Show

$10, $20, $30, $40, or $50

This is a standing show with an open floor. The Cedar always reserves a section of seats for patrons who require special seating accommodations. To request seating or other access accommodations, please go to their Access page.

Proceeds donated to 630 Cedar Fire Relief Committee. No one will be turned away due to lack of funds.

Can’t make it to the concert? You can still make a donation to support the families affected by the fire, here.

The Campus Kitchen Program has had one main source of transportation for more than 10 years, a minivan named Clementine. Our steadfast and beloved van (which was named by students) has become too worn to carry out our work, so we are in need of a new mode of transportation.

By the Numbers

This is some of what a van allows us to accomplish:

Six = the number of days each week Clementine is used to transport food, students, and staff.

100,000 = the number of meals Clementine has delivered to neighbors in need in the last 10 years.

27,996 = the number of pounds of recovered produce Clementine has hauled in one growing season from local farmers markets so it could be distributed to neighbors in Cedar-Riverside who have little access to fresh food.

Help us Keep on Rolling

We know we’ll have to move on without Clementine, and when a van allows us to get so much done, we know we can’t go for very long without finding a replacement vehicle. Here’s how you can help:

Make an online donation.

Make a donation the old-fashioned way. Send a check to Augsburg University, Campus Kitchen Van Fund, 2211 Riverside Avenue, Minneapolis, MN  55454 Campus Box 10.