UNM's second annual Skip-A-Meal a success

Hundreds of on-campus students skipped dinner at the dining hall last Tuesday to help New Mexico’s less fortunate.

The second annual Skip-A-Meal event asked students to opt out of eating at La Posada. The monetary value of the skipped meals goes to local food and clothing banks like the Storehouse and the Bethel Community Storehouse.

Marina Weisert, UNM’s campus relations chairwoman, said a record 1,581 residents skipped meals — more than half of the on-campus population. The total donation came to $5,000.

She said data from last year’s event was not readily available.

“It is very heartwarming because we know we informed students and let them make a difference,” Weisert said. “We tried to make it as accessible as possible so many students can actually participate in it and it worked. The Lobo Card office reported deleting 1,581 meals.”

Resident Advisor Janea Dickson said programs like Skip-A-Meal help UNM become part of the greater community.

“Hunger is a big issue in New Mexico, and this was a great way for me to give back to Albuquerque because I’m not from here,” she said. “It makes me feel good that there are needy families getting fed out there because of my University.”

Skip-A-Meal originated in Canada, and UNM is the first American university to implement the program, Weisert said.

“We are hoping to increase participation nationally,” she said. “I recently presented the program at the regional conference for residence hall associations and seven different schools in audience were interested.”

Last year, students who opted out of a dinner through the program received a replacement meal paid for by Residence Life. This year, no such meal was offered.
“We want to make the issue a reality to students,” Weisert said. “People should just give willingly with nothing in return. The reward is knowing that you had this huge hand in contributing to hungry families.”

Student Leah Remkes said she supported not having a replacement meal, and she went home to eat with her family on the night of the donated meal.

“We are donating a meal to help people, so we don’t need another one ourselves,” she said. “They shouldn’t be using money to feed us. We volunteered and they should use that money to help the people in need get a meal.”