Committee considers cutting miss-a-meal program

The Meal Plan Committee is expected today to decide the fate of the often contentious miss-a-meal program. Facing increased discontent in the way the funds are distributed to charity, the committee might vote to terminate the program. \nPresently, students participating in miss-a-meal donate $7.50 of their meal points by swiping their ID card. Of that $7.50, 40 percent goes to charity while the remaining 60 percent goes toward Residential Programs and Services overhead costs. Because the majority of the donations never make it into the hands of the charity involved, the miss-a-meal program is not an effective fund-raiser, many say.\n"I'm not in favor of the miss-a-meal program because I feel that residents have better opportunities to get involved," said Wright Quad president Jen Jacobs, a junior. "I think there are better ways for residents to donate to charity through buying canned goods at a 'C-store' or food drives." \nIn the past, the committee has looked at ways to increase the percentage of each donation that goes to charity but has not come up with any answers. The 60 percent is a rigid amount that must be retained by dining services in order to cover overhead costs, explained Graham Shepfer, dining services special events coordinator.\n"There is a feeling that there should be a better way to raise money for charity," Shepfer said. "The 40 percent is what we save in food costs, so it's pretty much the best we can do." \nShepfer said the concerns about the program but defended its intentions. \n"I think there are some problems, but I do see it as a good fundraiser for some small charities," he said. "It is an easy way to raise money."\nThe committee might vote to terminate the miss-a-meal program, or in an alternative solution, it could simply vote to reserve the right for each individual center to keep or remove the program. This way, explained Collins president sophomore John Schlafer, the program would not be completely scrapped, but would allow each center to individually judge the merit of the program.\n"My largest concern is that miss-a-meal should not be (centrally) mandated," he said. "It should be handled on a center-to-center basis."\nBut this would not alleviate the central concern that too much money is being kept by dining services. \n"The 60-40 is not going to change," Jacobs said. "That's not something that we on the committee or any of us can change"