Konza Student Table tops the 10,000 meal mark

Konza Student Table is a unique partnership developed in Manhattan for Kansas State University students that has now served more than 10,000 meals during the time period from early September through mid-March.

Students can obtain a free hot meals plus an additional brown bag breakfast containing items such as fruit or granola bars for example, on Wednesday evenings by going to the parking lot north of the St. Isidore's Catholic Church near the corner of Denison Ave. on the south side of the KSU campus, beginning at 5:30 p.m. It is a non-contact meal opportunity where students can simply drive by, ride a bicycle or walk to get the meals.

The Coordinator for the Food and Farm Council for Riley County and Manhattan, Vickie James, explained this project helps address food insecurity for KSU students. "Not just at Kansas State but all over the country university students have a lot of expenses. They may not have a situation where they have a lot of dollars saved for college so they may be working part-time or going to school. " James added that there can be significant challenges for university students to have enough money for eating the amount of food needed and nutritious food.

The meals have been helpful during the coronavirus pandemic and will continue indefinitely, said James. "As long as we have university students here, as long as we have Kansas State University there will be challenges with finances just because of the circumstances of students trying to work, go to school and make ends meet. "James said this is not something that is probably going to go away soon.

Meals are prepared by Students

Along with St. Isidore, Lacy's Catering is another key partner in the Konza Student Table operation. Lacy's began some time ago in Justin Hall through the College of Health & Human Sciences hospitality management program.

Planning for this effort is overseen by KSU Instructor Erika Bauer. When the pandemic began that created a new situation for preparing and serving meals, so the plan was created to prepare the food, deliver it and serve it in a non-contact way.

James noted that during the pandemic many of the hands-on experiences and practicums had to be put on hold. "So this is the most unique situation because it meant that students in those catering classes got one of the most amazing hands-on experiences. They were able to plan menus, order the food, prepare the food, package it, have it delivered and served totally non-contact delivery and totally safe." James observed that Bauer created an entire protocol for how to do meal preparation, service, delivery and the whole process with COVID protocol.

James pointed to benefits in the future for those students. "When I think about our K-State students as graduates and when they're going to be professionals in the hospitality management and catering field I think about their resume. That is going to be an amazing resume builder, that they have that experience.

The meals are for all university students and their families, said James. And if a student has a roommate that is working that student can pick up a meal for another one.

Meal serving runs for about one hour or until the food is gone. If there are leftover food items they are given to organizations such as the Crisis Stabilization Center and Manhattan Emergency Shelter.

New partnerships form

The Asian American Student Union at K-State normally does a taste testing in the spring so students can taste culturally diverse food. That couldn't be done during the pandemic so the organization reached out to the Konza Student Table. "Students themselves, from that group, came up with some menus." They then taught Erika Bauer how to prepare some of the dishes and she ordered the food. She and her catering students will prepare the foods using those recipes on April 14 and April 21.

Bauer also reached out to the Baking Science Club to ask if they would help prepare approximately 500 Vietnamese dinner rolls. That request was approved so that Club will handle those duties.

Everyone is a volunteer and you can donate

Those who work with the Konza Student Table are volunteers. But many friends of K-State, alumni of KSU and community members have donated funds to help support the program.

If you would like to volunteer or donate funds for this valuable program, contact Abby Rouse, St. Isidore’s Stewardship Director, arouse@stisidores.com - (785) 539-7496, or give online at https://stisidores.com/konza-student-table. Each $100 provides 20 students a nourishing hot meal and a brown bag breakfast!