Georgetown Individuals Vocal and Energetic for Service (G.I.V.E.S.) began tabling outside Leo’s to raise awareness of Grab and Give this past Friday.
The Grab-n-Give program, first started in 2007 as a joint effort by Hoya Outreach Programs and Engagement (H.O.P.E.) and Aramark, is a service that offers a way for students to donate meals to the homeless.
“It started off as people who were trying to get their Grab n’ Go meal and using their last one and bringing it down to M Street,” said Gianna Maita (COL ’15), H.O.P.E. coordinator of Grab and Give. “It wasn’t really working well, so they tried to do it in a new way.”
The program allows students to swipe one meal each Friday to give to the homeless. “Unfortunately, you can only do one [swipe] … We have over the years wondered if we could get them to do [more], but right now, they’re really just going to do one meal swipe a week,” said Josetta Moore, resident district manager of Georgetown Dining. “I don’t know if I can answer [why more swipes are not allowed] without guessing.”
Donating a meal does not translate to one direct meal to one homeless person. “What happens is the cost of that meal is put into a check that goes to Martha’s Tables that Leo’s writes every week,” Maita said.
Although the door rate for lunch at Leo’s is $12.45, the amount that gets donated to Martha’s table is much less. “Unfortunately, it’s really not that much,” Maita said. “Each swipe is a little more than two dollars.”
Leo’s management would not divulge the exact amount that was donated and would not answer why it is significantly less than the cost of a meal.
Even though Grab and Give has been around for six years, H.O.P.E is concerned that not enough students are aware of the program. “Leo’s used to have a sign out last semester to tell students that it was there and they kind of stopped putting it out,” Maita said. “They said that students already knew about the program.”
In order to continue spreading the word, H.O.P.E. decided to team up with G.I.V.E.S., a group dedicated to pursuing random acts of kindness. The team of 30 G.I.V.E.S. members are responsible for tabling for the program. “In terms of G.I.V.E.S.’s role, we are there to help and take an already existing great program and to provide the manpower and enthusiasm to get the student body interested,” said Benjamin Weiss (COL ‘15), a coordinator of the group.
Throughout the semester, G.I.V.E.S. will have members stand at a table weekly to remind people about the option to donate their last swipes. Since G.I.V.E.S. began tabling outside Leo’s last Friday, new signs are already by the entrance explaining the Grab-n-Give program to students. “I think that Leo’s and Aramark realized that students really like this program and [they] should embrace it a little more,” Weiss said.
