Every Monday, DePaul professor Maya Miyairi-Steel goes to a variety of grocery stores and to the Seton Soup Kitchen, where she fills her car with donations the kitchen receives from Costco. She then drops the food off at McGowan South, where the Food Forward Project distributes it to students — for free.

 Miyairi-Steel says while some people believe college students can afford food, many can’t. A 2025 Connecticut State Colleges and Universities study found that 23% to 50% of U.S. college students struggle with food insecurity. According to her, DePaul’s campus sits at about 40%.

“We are trying to educate the community about this important issue,” she said. 

The Food Forward Project team began development of an app at the beginning of the 2025-26 academic year. They tabled with food during the winter quarter and launched the app alongside the table in the spring quarter. The project is part of the Attainment and Assessment Research Lab, which focuses on addressing basic needs such as food.

Miyairi-Steel said everything the project distributes is donated, never purchased. This is because the project’s goal, besides helping eliminate food insecurity on campus, is to reduce food waste. Students are encouraged to take whatever food they need.

 Students don’t necessarily think of themselves as struggling with food insecurity, volunteer Addyson Schuldheisz said. At the Food Forward Project, she helps haul and distribute food. 

“You kind of just assume this is how college is supposed to be. I mean, you’re young, you hear the stories of eating ramen for dinner,” said Schuldheisz, who is a sophomore health sciences major. “It’s just sort of that grind mentality.”

Schuldeisz says the project accepts anything and everything from the Seton Soup Kitchen, with amounts and items varying. Each week from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Monday, and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Thursday, volunteers place the food, which might include bagels, produce and canned foods, on a table in McGowan South.

However, she also still thinks some students hesitate to come and get the food from the project’s table. 

“I think students don’t want to grab the food because they don’t think it’s for them,” Schuldeisz said. 

Tyler Ackerman, manager of the Seton Soup Kitchen, says the relationship they have with the Food Forward project is a win-win. 

“We get a ton of food donated to us that we never use and don’t have the capacity to use,” Ackerman said, adding that it’s often food students enjoy.

The Seton Soup Kitchen is open to the public year-round, and Ackerman said most patrons aren’t students. He feels that stigmas can prevent students from asking for the help they need. 

“There’s a bunch of negative associations that go with it,” Ackerman said. “I think students don’t want to be seen waiting in line for food, which is really unfortunate because we would serve students with open arms.” 

As a result, he says the Food Forward Project’s distribution efforts are amazing. They can give out significantly more food to students than the soup kitchen can. 

“Food that would take us, in our operation, a week to get rid of — they can hand out in a matter of hours,” Ackerman said. He says he has heard that the project is very successful.

“There is so much food that gets produced, more than enough food to feed the entire world,” Ackerman said. “It’s just a matter of getting it to those who need it. It’s just one big logistics problem.” 

Miyairi-Steel said the group is applying for a grant to grow the project. She hopes they can eventually expand to the Loop campus.

“We are going to take baby steps,” she said. “We are going to do what we can do.”

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