Hamilton College Students Distribute 31,105 lbs. of Food since 2022 Community Organizations Benefit

Clinton, N.Y. – Harvest, Hamilton College’s on-campus food recovery program, has collected and distributed 31,105.23 pounds of food since 2022.  It is led by three student-leaders supported by Hamilton’s Office of Environmental Protection, Safety, and Sustainability and Community Outreach and Opportunity Project. Operating for many years but interrupted by COVID, it restarted in spring 2022.

The program is carried out by 150 – 175 student volunteers who salvage excess food from hot-food serving stations at lunch and dinner at the college’s two main dining halls for a total of  23 meals per week. Participants are individual volunteers or members of sports teams and Greek life organizations. Since the program’s re-launch, students have spent 446.5 hours in this effort.

The program donates food every week to four local soup kitchens, community partners in this endeavor.

Food recovery is important to the student volunteers both because of the environmental impact of waste and because of the importance in helping to address food insecurity in the community.

Agencies receiving food include:

• Mother Marianne’s West Side Kitchen
• Rome Rescue Mission
• Rescue Mission of Utica
• Catholic Charities of Oneida and Madison Counties
• Hope House (Utica Location)
• Johnson Park Center
• Salvation Army of Rome
• Salvation Army of Utica

Volume: 31,105.23 pounds of food since 2022

BREAKDOWN by semester:

• Spring 2025
  • Ongoing, already have salvaged 1,588.67 pounds since 1/20/2025.
• Fall 2024
  • 5,682 pounds
• Spring 2024
  • 5,493.7 pounds
• Fall 2023
  • 4,234.86 pounds
• Spring 2023
  • 6,564 pounds
• Fall 2022
  • 5,749 pounds
• Spring 2022
  • 1,793.60 pounds

Student Participation:

BREAKDOWN by semester:

• Spring 2025
  • 175 student volunteers (which includes volunteers from 14 student groups)
• Fall 2024
  • 140 student volunteers (which includes volunteers from 11 student groups)
• Spring 2024
  • 106 student volunteers (which includes volunteers from 8 student groups)
• Fall 2023
  • 112 student volunteers (which includes volunteers from 11 student groups)
• Spring 2023
  • 142 student volunteers (which includes volunteers from 11 student groups)
• Fall 2022
  • 156 student volunteers (which includes volunteers from 8 student groups)
• Spring 2022
  • 15 student volunteers

Food waste and food insecurity facts

• Food loss and waste is estimated to be roughly one third of the food intended for human consumption in the United States (USDA, 2022)

• Food loss and waste account for 8-10% of annual global greenhouse gas emissions – nearly five times the total emissions from the aviation sector (UNFCCC, 2024)
• 10.3% of the population in Oneida county is food insecure (Feeding America, 2021)
• 79.2% (10.1M tons) of institutional food surplus in the United States was sent to landfills in 2023, while only 0.86% was donated (ReFED, 2023)