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Students and nonprofits press Regents to fund campus food-recovery and basic-needs programs
Summary
Multiple student leaders and members of Swipe Out Hunger urged the Regents to fund food-recovery programs, expand basic-needs staff, and adopt models like Aggie Fresh or Bruin Fresh across UC campuses; speakers cited campus food-insecurity statistics and state law on food recovery.
Students and nonprofit partners asked the Board of Regents to invest in campus food-recovery programs, hire full‑time staff for basic‑needs centers and expand successful campus models systemwide to address student food insecurity.
Victoria Tong, an undergraduate at UCLA, described the local effort RuinDine and said, "Last school year, we recovered 8,456 pounds of food and served 6,105 hot meals completely free of charge to students." Tong cited a UCLA student‑food‑insecurity rate of 39% and urged the Regents to support equipment purchases and staffing to redistribute recovered food.
Carl Meyer, president of the UCLA Swipe Out Hunger chapter, and other student speakers proposed Bruin Fresh (also referenced as Brewin’/Bruin Fresh in comments) modeled on UC Davis’ Aggie Fresh program and asked the Regents to provide funding that would help undocumented and international students who are often ineligible for CalFresh.
Speakers referenced state law requiring food-recovery programs, identified in comments as SB 1383, as a basis for campus obligations to recover edible food destined for landfills and to redirect it to people in need. Regents did not take a formal funding vote during the morning open session; the remarks were part of public comment seeking commitment to expand programs and staff.
