Nonprofit Swipe out Hunger is teaming up with LG Electronics to combat food insecurity on college campuses. Together, they will provide meals for college students, raise awareness about food insecurity on campus and ensure that college food pantries have refrigeration to store food.
The nonprofit says that 29% of its campus pantry partners do not have refrigeration and a third of them cited lack of funding as the reason, according to a statement.
To help address this issue, LG Electronics will provide 120 refrigerator-freezers to 60 campuses in Swipe Out Hunger’s network. The refrigerators will be Energy Star certified, to conserve energy and support Swipe Out Hunger’s partners' sustainability goals.
"LG's collaboration with Swipe Out Hunger will transform the nutrition and availability of food for students experiencing hunger today and, in the future," said Jaime Hansen, executive director of Swipe Out Hunger, in a statement. "Access to fresh, nutritious food options will help students achieve their higher education goals."
In addition, LG Electronics will stock the fridges with healthy and nutritious foods and provide grants for an additional 40 colleges and universities to upgrade their current campus refrigerators.
"We are truly grateful for the support from LG and Swipe Out Hunger. It will allow us to add perishable items to our food pantry, something that wasn't included before," said Charlyne Yue, senior associate director of student affairs at Southwestern Law School. "Thanks to their generosity, our students experiencing food insecurity will be able to focus on studying rather than worrying about their next meal."
LG is also using its electronic billboard in Times Square as a call to action. The billboard will now feature a QR code that invites people to support Swipe Out Hunger. The campaign will also be promoted on social media.
“Working with Swipe Out Hunger aligns with our goal of a Better Life for All. Beyond providing refrigerators to campus food pantries for much-needed fresh food storage, LG is proud to support Swipe Out Hunger's mission to end college student hunger," said John Taylor, LG Electronics USA senior vice president.
This comes along with Swipe Out Hunger’s latest effort to address food insecurity on college campus. The nonprofit has launched a number of initiatives including a partnership with Sodexo on a Meal Swipe Bank, which provides meal swipes to students suffering from food insecurity.