Supporting our Penn Community
Community engagement is central to our commitment to improving the well-being of our guests, the community, and the environment. Penn Dining is committed to collaborative engagement with Penn students, faculty and staff, as well as the local and regional communities. We actively engage with students to enrich our relationship through charitable efforts that make meaningful contributions to the community’s well-being.
Enterprise Center
Penn Dining currently works with the Dorrance Hamilton Center for Culinary Enterprises, established as a resource to help aspiring chefs access professional equipment, as well as mentors who help them with business plans, distribution outlets, and access to local ingredients so they can take part in the current farm-to-fork trend. Through this partnership, we work with businesses primarily in the West Philadelphia community to provide opportunities for their products to be part of either our retail, residential, or catering portfolio.
Swipe Out Hunger
Swipe Out Hunger is a national hunger relief non-profit that collects unused meal swipes from students to be given to those that are considered food insecure. This program assists students that cannot afford food on a consistent basis. Penn Dining partners with Penn’s campus Swipe Out Hunger chapter to host swipe drives for students to donate their unused swipes. Please see Penn’s Swipe Out Hunger Facebook page or the Swipe Out Hunger website for more information.
Watch Your Waste
Penn Dining hosts interruption tables in dining cafes, such as Houston Market, to help students learn how to properly separate their food waste, recyclables, and trash. Our goal for the events is to decrease waste contamination, which occurs when food waste and trash are thrown into the recycling. If recycling is too contaminated, it will all be placed into the landfill which contributes to increased greenhouse gas emissions.
Eliminating Hunger
Penn Dining works with Philabundance, Philadelphia and Delaware Valleys largest food bank, to support efforts to address food insecurity in our local community. As part of an ongoing food recovery effort, Philadbundance picks up non-consumed food on weekly basis as well as on demand through Food Connect App for our catering and Pret locations.