RPS eliminates miss-a-meal giving options

The Meal Plan Committee voted Friday to eliminate the charitable but increasingly contentious miss-a-meal program. It was terminated, committee members said, because many students thought it was not an efficient fund-raiser.\nMiss-a-meal was designed as a way for charities to raise money through meal points. Any student wishing to participate swiped his or her ID card and gave $7.50 to that charity. But of that $7.50, only 40 percent went to the charity involved. The remaining 60 percent was kept by dining services to cover overhead costs.\nSandra Fowler, head of dining services, said the program was not the best use of student money.\n"The students are not really happy when they learn how much of their dollar actually goes to charity," she said. "It's not effective. There has to be a different way for charities to get contributions."\nJunior Eric Hafner, president of Read Center, said he talked to students in his dorm and decided the program was fatally flawed, despite its charitable intentions.\n"I realize that this leaves charities without a way to raise funds in the dorms," he said. "But my residents were upset about it and thought they had been blindsided by the 40-60," he said. \nAlthough the committee discussed possible ways to increase the amount of each donation that goes to charity, a compromise was not reached.\n"We've talked to the administration about changing the 40-60, and they didn't think it was something we could do," Hafner said. "So we scrapped it totally."\nOne of the committee members who voted to keep the miss-a-meal program was sophomore John Schlafer, president of Collins Center, who said the fate of the program should be left up to each individual residence hall. \n"The people at each center are distinct," he said. "If we can empower each center to make their own decision, I think we should. When you give more control at the center level, you get more input from students."\nThe program has existed since the late 1960s. Fowler said the recent scrutiny of the miss-a-meal program was sparked by an IDS article that explained the 40-60 ratio of donation and overhead.\nFor many students, this was the first time they became of aware of the 40-60 ratio, and many reacted negatively. \n"After the article in the IDS, contributions dropped dramatically, so it was obvious that students didn't know (how their money was being used)," Fowler said. \nShe said the program failed because charities didn't take the responsibility to inform students how much of their donation was going to charity.\n"Charities, I feel, take advantage of students because students don't know the true amount they are donating," she said. "They have the responsibility to advertise how much goes to charity, and that hasn't always been the case."\nOne of the organizations that relied heavily on miss-a-meal as a primary source of fund-raising was Spirit of Sport. Last year, it raised nearly $6,000 through the program, about 20 percent of the group's total yearly funds. \nSenior Brad Logar, president of Spirit of Sport, said he was discouraged by the committee's decision.\n"We found it to be a really good program, and we're disappointed to hear this," he said. "We're going to have to look elsewhere to make up that money."\nDance Marathon, which raises money for Riley Hospital for Children, also benefited from the miss-a-meal program. \n"We were always extremely happy with the RPS miss-a-meal program, and it will be greatly missed," said Senior Ian Essling, vice president of finance for Dance Marathon. "We hope that students will continue to be generous with donations of their time and money."\nThe Meal Plan Committee endorsed the idea of developing an alternative fund-raiser to let students show their good will but has yet to make recommendations.\n"We should come up with some sort of charity program that works better for the residents," said senior Ilia Smith, president of Willkie Quad.