Since its inception last spring, a class project has grown into a campus organization that has funneled more than 4,500 pounds of unsold food into the hands -- and bellies -- of Cape Girardeau's hungry.

During the spring 2013 semester, Dr. Gerri Goldman assigned some of her social work students at Southeast Missouri State University the task of identifying an issue, researching it and developing a project to address it locally.

During their research, the students found data showing as many as 23 percent of children and 19 percent of the overall population of Cape Girardeau are food insecure, meaning they do not have reliable access to food, Goldman said. That is significantly higher than the state and national averages, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service.

Statewide, 16.7 percent of the population is food insecure; nationwide, the figure is 14.5 percent, the department reports on its website.

While her students were working on their project, Goldman saw a television spot about the Food Recovery Network, which collects unsold food from campus food service providers and distributes it to food banks, homeless shelters or similar agencies.

"They looked into it, and they liked it," Goldman said.

Chartwells, which provides on-campus dining services, agreed to work with the students, provided they were willing to pick up the food at 7 p.m. each Friday -- "not a real popular time" for college students, Goldman noted.

The class project ended after a month, she said, but the SEMO Food Alliance was just getting started.

"We were trying to make it sustainable," Goldman said. " ... It's a challenge with it being student-run and people graduating and having other responsibilities."

Enter Cheryl Garrett of Cape Girardeau, a senior and full-time social work student.

Garrett wasn't in Goldman's class when the project began, but when she heard about the SEMO Food Alliance, she immediately recognized the need and volunteered to help.

"I see a lot of the homeless people in our town all the time," she said. "I see them going through all the Dumpsters in the neighborhood, trying to scrounge cans. ... I've known families that were living out of their car."

Garrett and other students pick up food from Chartwells and Subway every Friday evening and take it to the New Beginnings homeless shelter.

"When we made the delivery last week, it was amazing," Garrett said. "The men were coming from the shelter across the street. ... Each and every last one of them thanked us."

Since it started, the SEMO Food Alliance has collected 4,500 pounds of salads, sandwiches, pudding cups, hummus, bread and other foods that otherwise would have been thrown away, Goldman and Garrett said.

Projects like the SEMO Food Alliance give students like Garrett -- who will graduate next month -- valuable experience as they head into careers in social work, Goldman said.

"From my perspective as a professor, this is an opportunity for them to really do something in the community that they've never done before, to realize that they can do it," she said. " ... On the job, you're not going to get directions. You're going to have to do this."

epriddy@semissourian.com

388-3642

Pertinent address:

Southeast Missouri State University, Cape Girardeau, MO