Mission statement:

           We are interested in how many students on campus or near campus stay in town during Thanksgiving break and Winter berak. Of the people who stay we are interested in finding out how many people would attend these dinners. We will also propose a plan on how to organize these dinners. We want to insure that UW Stout students are not food insecure during school breaks.

Food Insecurity Definition:

        Food insecurity means not having easy access to healthy affordable food in your area. This can especially be a problem for the college students that stay on campus during holiday breaks when the campus is not serving food.

Questions we are answering:

• Dining options available to students at UW Stout.

• Examples of other universities off campus grocery/house/dining services.

• If it is it a viable option to host a holiday/Thanksgiving break dinner

• Why students stay on campus during the holiday/Thanksgiving break

Questions for our survey:

1. Do you stay on campus or near campus during Thanksgiving break?

2. Do you stay on campus or near campus during Winter break?

3. Would you be interested in attending a UW stout Thanksgiving dinner?

5. Would you be interested in attending a UW stout Winter dinner?

6. Would you be interested in volunteering for a Thanksgiving/Winter dinner?

7. Would you be interested in donating for a Thanksgiving/Winter dinner?

Our research findings:

The advantages of UW Stout meal sponsored holiday meal is to prevent food insecurity during the holiday break for UW Stout students. The dining options available for UW Stout students during the holiday break are nonexistent.

          It would not be a viable option for UW Stout to host a Thanksgiving/Holiday dinner. While UW Stout housing is open during holiday breaks, it does not offer any type of dining during this time. Some universities do supply some sort of meal plan for holidays: Michigan State and Oregon State University.

Michigan State has a limited dining service over the holidays. If students are not leaving the school and are living in a few specific dorms, their dining plan is available to be used during the holiday break. If students live in other places around the school, they can purchase a block of meals to use during the break/holiday time when school is not in session.

Oregon State University students are allowed to stay in their school-provided housing during break at no additional charge. As for dining, there are special holiday meals planned for this time and limited dining hall hours. Oregon State University also provides a bus service during break that can take students into town to go grocery shopping.

According to our survey some students stay on/near campus during breaks, we did not specifically address this in our survey, but according to Harvard some reasons are: student athletes, international students, internships in the surrounding area, lab researchers, and enrollment in academic courses.

Bibliography:

https://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/articles/2017-11-29/us-colleges-host-international-students-over-winter-break

https://osl.fas.harvard.edu/deadlines