Kathryn Crider

Many Texas State students are helping feed the hungry. They're doing it with their left-over meal trades. Kathryn Crider has more in this Bobcat Update.
At the end of each Spring semester, many Texas State students using meal plans find themselves with a surplus of unused meal trades. Meal trades or "swipes" not used in the fall are rolled over to the spring semester, but any swipes left at the end of the school year simply go to waste with no option for a refund.
Students living on campus are required to purchase a meal plan each semester, with the smallest plan carrying 150 meals. So, with at least 300 meals at their disposal each year, many students end up forfeiting quite a few meal trades in lieu of off-campus dining and other options, essentially not eating meals they were required to purchase.
Hernandez..."It's a waste...money down the drain."
Crider..."As the semester draws...already paid for."
Junior Morgan Eaton decided she wasn't OK with letting her unused meals go to waste, so she and several friends organized to donate meals purchased with some of the swipes they won't use to feed the homeless at the Southside Community Center.
Eaton..."It killed me...put their money to use"
Jennifer Gray of the Southside Community Center says there is always a need for food at the San Marcos's homeless community. Gray encourages students to follow Eaton's lead and donate what they can of their pre-purchased leftovers.
Gray..."Meals feed a ton...mean a lot to them."
With support from more students, Eaton says she wants to create a student organization to help fight hunger in San Marcos. For Bobcat Update, I'm Kathryn Crider.