Published in the Summer 2008 401 Richmond Update
When Meal Exchange (Studio 365) first hit the non-profit scene it was hailed as “one of the most creative non-profit organizations in Canada” by Macleans Magazine. Founded by visionary Rahul Raj in 1993, the organization is based on the idea that students on university campuses can donate their leftover meal plan points at the end of the year to local food banks. The concept is simple but the results are revolutionary. The program was test driven at Wilfred Laurier University with great success and soon made its way to the University of Guelph and beyond. It is now thriving with over fifty chapters on campuses across Canada and just marked a two million dollar milestone or the equivalent of 727,200 meals.
Meal Exchange recently made the shift from a founder-led organization to hiring a new Executive Director Dave Kranenburg, who got his start working with a chapter at the University of Guelph. There is a youthful energy to the organization fueled by Dave, Communications and Programme Manager Leisha Zamecnik and a board of innovative twenty to thirty-somethings who bring their unique talents to trail-blazing their way through solutions to the hunger epidemic taking place in our own backyards. It is fitting that the charity is being directed by such youthful vigour as one of its primary achievements is the level at which it is able to engage youth in social activism. As Dave explains “Meal Exchange is really the first of its kind. We are taking a youth engagement model and applying it to hunger and food security and there is no one doing that right now. There are comparable organizations in terms of youth and other social issues and a new breed of non-profits in the last ten years that are connecting youth with different issues, but our particular model is still unique.”
Part of what makes Meal Exchange appealing to young people is its accommodation of different commitment levels. Not all youth are interested or able to commit to directing a chapter, but they can easily participate in a program like Trick or Eat on a one-off basis. Trick or Eat is a Halloween food drive where students get decked out in costumes to roam the streets and instead of pulling pranks they collect food donations. This is considered Meal Exchange’s most successful initiative and Dave feels it’s because it is so appealing to a wide range of students. It makes it easy to rally participation because of how fun it is for students who might not be as politically or socially-minded as others.
The organization is keen on finding new ways to continue its legacy. The groundwork has been set and now it’s a matter of navigating organizational growth and deciding exactly where it makes the most sense to expand. More people working at Meal Exchange is a given and Dave is thrilled by the idea of having a larger staff. “We normally impress people with the fact that we are a two person shop and foundations and partners ask us how we are managing to do so much with so little. But if we want to pull off any new initiatives, we will need to add some new faces to the office.” Meal Exchange has figured out how to do what they do well, and now it’s time to look to other areas where they can become involved such as the local food movement and affordable housing. These issues are all linked, but as a small non-profit they can’t do it all and want to find the right partnerships to strategically place their efforts.
Coming up this July 18 – 20, Meal Exchange will be hosting a conference in partnership with the Centre for Studies in Food Policy at Ryerson University. This isn’t their first year hosting a conference but as Dave explains “this year the scope of the conference has been expanded. We partnered with the Ontario Association of Food Banks to create an Ontario Journal of Hunger and Poverty and there will be pieces of the journal included in the conference. We are expecting a higher attendance and are really pushing the envelope - there is some really cool work happening these days, and food security is a growing area in terms of academic research. We want to bring the student practitioners who are implementing the programs together with those who are studying it academically to talk, discuss, and explore. The conference is also where we will finalize upcoming programming and partnerships for Meal Exchange.”
The organization is constantly generating new ideas and relies on their board and other collaborators for feedback. They are also always looking to the student led chapters to innovate and come up with new programs that fit the culture of their specific campus. Meal Exchange is frequently adding new programs to their roster like Clear the Shelves that takes advantage of all the stuff, including food that students have to clear out of their apartments or residences at the end of a school year. Instead of dumping it all curbside, Meal Exchange arranges for collection of these items to be donated to local food banks and charities. The role of the organization is to provide a tool kit to students in chapters to run these initiatives – they provide support and information and then let the creative young minds of students come up with the best way for their peers to contribute to solving the hunger crisis.
For Dave, the sky is the limit. “Our growth curve these days is skyrocketing. We just marked our programs raising two million dollars worth of food across Canada and one million of that is just in the last four years. I never want us to be a monstrous non-profit but I do feel like we are just at the tip of what we are capable of.”
Meal Exchange's Communications and Programme Manager Leisha Zamecnik and Executive Director Dave Kranenburg
Participants in the Trick or Eat food drive.
