In the spring semester of 2021, Elijah Carswell, a pharmacy student, had a plan to rescue cafeteria leftovers. In the fall of 2022, he joined a group of pharmacy students that rescued leftovers from their events. The organization was called “22-23 FeedBHM Liaison” recalled Carswell.
In the spring of 2023, the group was finally approved to begin their rescue of cafeteria food, and on April 28, the organization did their first rescue.
In the fall of 2023, the group began the process of becoming a club. They changed their group name from 22-23 FeedBHM to Samford Food Heroes, and on Oct. 22, 2024, the organization was granted as an official club.
“We are a body of passionate students who are dedicated to mitigating food insecurity on our campus and within our local Birmingham community,” said Carswell, the founder and president of the club.
Samford Food Heroes rescues leftover food from the cafeteria and campus restaurants nightly at 8p.m., also saving food from campus events as requested.
“All leftover food gets donated to Grace Klein Community– a nonprofit organization dedicated to serving the underserved through multiple initiatives, food insecurity being one of them,” said Carswell.
The club follows a regular food rescue schedule: cafeteria dinner nightly at 8pm, on-campus Einstein’s on Wednesdays and Thursdays at 7:45 p.m. and on-campus Chick-fil-a Monday through Thursday at 9:00 p.m.
In the past fall semester, the organization was able to rescue 3,300 pounds of food, about half the weight of an elephant.
Events can request a food rescue in their “request a rescue GroupMe.”
The club is open to any student or faculty who wants to join through the GroupMe at the QR code. After joining the new members will receive an onboarding email that describes the process to become rescue ready.
The club also has an Instagram: @sufoodheroes.
Staff Writer
