Weinberg junior Sarah Suh spent her Sundays for the last three years delivering leftover food from Northwestern dining halls to Evanston residents in need. Because of her efforts, she was one of five students nationwide recognized last week for taking a stand against hunger.
On Thursday, Sodexo, Inc., nuCuisine’s parent company, honored Suh’s charitable work with the Stephen J. Brady STOP Hunger Scholarship, worth $10,000.
Suh is the outgoing president of NU’s Campus Kitchens. Since stumbling upon the organization at an activity fair her freshman year, Suh has focused on the neediest members of the community. She started working on the group’s meal shifts, which involve packaging leftover dining hall food to be delivered to Campus Kitchens’ clients. She became more invested in the group after she started working delivery shifts.
“Once I was able to put the face with the meals that we were making, it was really cool,” Suh said. “For a lot of our clients, it’s more than just food that they’re getting. It’s more of a visit and companionship as well.”
Suh said many Campus Kitchens clients are single or elderly, and the group’s visit is often the only interaction those clients get for several days. The ability to touch Evanston residents on this personal level pushed Suh to increase her involvement with the group, she said.
“I think hunger is very commonly misperceived as more of a third-world-country problem,” Suh said. “A lot of students don’t get to see the other part of Evanston that actually is needy.”
Sodexo president George Chavel praised Suh’s work.
“Not many people know that one in six Cook County residents are food insecure,” Chavel said in a news release. “Sarah’s volunteer efforts are playing a critical role in the fight to end hunger in the area and we are proud to award her this scholarship.”
Sodexo’s STOP Hunger program, which helps communities combat local hunger and food waste, works directly with Campus Kitchens in efforts to serve the Evanston and Chicago communities. Suh has volunteered with Campus Kitchens for more than 800 hours and helped serve almost 17,000 meals in the region to residents in need, according to the news release.
Half of Suh’s scholarship will go toward her NU tuition, while the other half will be donated to the hunger-relief organization of her choice. She intends to give it back to Campus Kitchens.
“Sarah is a good leader,” said Victoria Tannenbaum, vice president of Campus Kitchens. “She likes to hear other people’s opinions. She’s very democratic.”
Tannenbaum, a Weinberg junior, joined Campus Kitchens as a freshman after learning about it from Suh. The two have worked together on the executive board for the last two years.
“Sarah overall is very motivated in expanding our organization, and you can see with the work that was put in that things actually came out of it,” Tannenbaum said.
Suh’s current focus is winning Northwestern Student Holdings Impact Week, which pairs Northwestern Student Holdings groups with student organizations to compete for a $1,000 prize toward their cause. Suh hopes to use this money to purchase an indoor gardening system for Campus Kitchens and grow fruits and vegetables to increase the nutritional value of the food delivered to clients.
“Every week going out to deliver this food to our clients has been a really eye-opening experience,” Suh said. “It’s been amazing, and they’ve impacted my life so much. It’s close to my heart.”
