By Regina Anderson, Executive Director

The poet laureate Audre Lorde said, “The sharing of joy, whether physical, emotional, psychic, or intellectual, forms a bridge between the sharers which can be the basis for understanding much of what is not shared between them, and lessens the threat of their difference.” 

Lorde’s sentiment reminds me of all of our students throughout the country in their pursuit to build a better food system for all. FRN students believe deeply that food is a right and they make sure that people have access to the food they deserve through valuable relationships. 

This month we wanted to take a moment to celebrate our student network! Students, you have all accomplished some astounding things and I am not surprised at all. 

• We have found new places to recover food outside of our college campuses, more than 120 of us worked closely [virtually] with The FarmLink Project (600,000 pounds of food recovered and counting!)

• We’re engaged in our continuous learning with the Food Justice Learning Series, a sequence of webinars that brings a panel of experts together to discuss issues that intersect food waste and food insecurity in our country through the lens of life in a pandemic.

• Additionally, in collaboration with the #FUELHigherEd campaign, FRN is working alongside a network of advocacy organizations to end food insecurity in America and to create long-lasting solutions to hunger on college campuses. We hope you can interact with this campaign throughout the spring.  

And we’re just getting warmed up. 2021 will be here before we know it and all of us at FRN National cannot wait to keep making strides to ensure we can distribute all of the surplus food our country produces to feed everyone who is hungry. 

Thank you to all of our student-leaders, volunteers, staff advisors, dining hall workers, food donors, and partner agencies. We appreciate your hard work this year, and we can’t wait to continue this amazing work in the new year!