In the spring of 2020, Fullerton College will introduce a food program named Buzzy Bites (BB). Students seeking a meal or a snack will be able to locate free food on campus through an app on their phone.
The Buzzy Bites free food program invites students to be an after-event guest. When a catered event is over and food is leftover, it will be available for students. Food will be available for a limited time and is first-come, first-served.
The mode of communication for the free food announcements will be through the upcoming Fullerton College app. It is scheduled to be available one week before the start of the spring 2020 semester.
In order to receive real-time notifications, students will have to download the app through Google Play or the Apple Store. Students must opt-in by selecting the Buzzy Bites feature for future notifications of where food will be available on campus. This is a convenient and fast way to communicate with students.
The free food comes from a range of campus events around the school. When staff meetings are held on campus, food is usually provided. If the event is in the morning the items available will typically be pastries and yogurts. In the afternoon items can range from pizza, sandwiches, chips or cookies.
The President’s forums is an event held monthly that always has food for attendees. People from the campus community attend these functions. Under Buzzy Bites, the extra food will be given away to all students who come. Also, during these forums, there are box lunches prepared for employees. The box lunches not consumed by the workforce will also be put to the side and prepared for student distribution.
A facility where campus proceedings are held frequently is in the 200 Building. In the spring 2020 semester, there are a lot of scheduled functions that will be catered in the building. The rooms have to be turned around and prepared for the next meeting with new food for those attending. As a consequence, there may be a lot of left-over food. The Buzzy Bites recipients will be notified when that extra food is available for distribution.
“Buzzy Bites address the hunger of our students and food waste. It is going to be a win-win for the college to not have food waste and addressing student hunger,” said Lisa McPheron, Director of Campus Communications at Fullerton College.
Buzzy Bites was proposed by the 2018 Fullerton College Associated Students leadership. AS was passionate about addressing the hunger issue on campus and purposed BB as one way of providing snacks and meals to the FC population.
Some of the challenges BB faces are food exposure and duration of availability. “Where it becomes more complicated, how long can we have the food out and be available for students. They are working through these operational issues right now,” McPheron said.
Buzzy Bites has a potentially bright future because it is an embedded food security program on campus. There will always be catered events, left-over food and hungry students who are looking for a buzzlicious meal.