Welcome To Spoon!

"The first freedom of man, I contend, is the freedom to eat."
— Eleanor Roosevelt

Join SPOON!

What did you do today?

• Today, 50 more people in the Bay Area had dinner due to SPOON's food salvaging program.
• Today, hundreds of children in the world will go to bed with a full stomach due to SPOON's fundraising for international hunger relief organizations.
• Today, dozens of Stanford students got inspired to join the fight against hunger due to SPOON's hunger awareness efforts.
• Today, 100 homeless people had breakfast due to SPOON's community outreach work.

Hunger and malnutrition are a way of life for over 800 million people in the world, almost one-seventh of humanity. The tragedy of the situation is that it doesn’t have to be this way. The world produces enough food to completely hunger in this world; it is one of humanity’s biggest failures that not everyone has access to this food. The Stanford Project on Hunger works to reduce hunger and malnutrition locally, nationally, and internationally. To succeed, it will take the commitment of individuals like you. What did you do today?

Recent Press Coverage - Stanford Daily

Rhythms
Letter about Rhythms (2nd letter)
Oxfam Hunger Banquet

Mission Statement

Stanford Project on Hunger (SPOON) takes as its mission the widespread reduction of food waste on the Stanford University campus. Unused food leftovers from dining halls, row houses, the faculty club, and special events are channeled to local organizations to meet the hunger needs of community members. SPOON works in addition to spread campus awareness of hunger and homelessness issues with the overall goals of reducing waste and alleviating hunger.

History and Background

As the single largest food consumer on the peninsula, Stanford food services feed thousands of people each day. Although food service employees work hard to reduce the amount of food wasted, prior to SPOON's existence most leftover food was thrown away. Recognizing this waste and the need for food among the homeless in the Palo Alto area, a dedicated group of Stanford Students founded SPOON in 1987. Since then enthusiasm for SPOON among campus cooks and food service managers has grown tremendously. Through the combined efforts of student volunteers, cooks, and kitchen managers, SPOON’s donations have continued to increase annually. SPOON provides for one of the main shelters in the Palo Alto: the Urban Ministries.

Each week, cooks package unserved excess food. After which, the food is packaged into aluminum trays. Student volunteers transport the food to a central freezer on campus where the trays are weighed, labeled, and recorded into log books. Later in the week, the food is taken to soup kitchens in the Palo Alto area to be served to the hungry. Urban Ministry works with SPOON to help channel unused food to those who need it in our local area. Over fifty SPOON volunteers, donating about thirty minutes of their time each week, provide thousands of meals for hungry and homeless people each year.