At the end of a semester, when meal plan credit abounds and there’s nothing left to spend them on but ice cream, most college students use their spent funds and do just that. Not John Fisher, though, a soon-to-be sophomore at a university in West Virginia.
Throughout the school year, Fisher was keeping mental tabs on how many meals he was using from his plan. Unsurprisingly, he had a lot left over as the semester’s end neared.
Said Fisher:
“I was looking at how many meals I had left for the year. I just realized that I was going to have a lot left over. I was thinking I have to do something with them.”
In many schools, freshmen are required to pay ahead for a semester of meals, regardless if they actually consume them or not. Money leftover after the semester is not reimbursed and cannot rollover.
Knowing that there are homeless in Virginia who could benefit from some campus food, Fischer followed up on an idea.
Before he left town for the holidays, he approached the managers of the Grab and Go initiative, a quick alternative to a sit-down meal in the dining hall.
“I said I need to place a fairly large order. They said, how large. I had a couple boxes with me and they said let’s see what we can do. I just started ordering a whole bunch of food,” explained the future marketing major.
His brilliant idea worked, which inspired his friend, Noah, to get involved.
“He was another one that was going to have extra meal swipes. We were both going home. I said why don’t you just use your leftover meal swipes and we’ll go get all this food and take it and then we’ll go home. He said it sounded like a great idea so he helped me,” Fischer relayed.
The boys were able to secure about 100 sandwiches, which they promptly took to the Bartlett House, a non-profit organization that serves homeless men and women in Monongalia County, reports Metro News.
His inspired thinking and compassionate heart helped put the extra money in his meal plan to good use.
“I always like helping other people doing whatever I can to assist others. I guess I attribute that to my parents just raising me right and making sure that I always feel like I have to do the right thing.”
While this sort of activism might not be doable on every college campus, it’s worth looking into if you’re paying for a meal plan you’re not using up.
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