This week on The School for Humanity we have Rachel Sumekh who is the CEO of Swipe out Hunger.
Swipe Out Hunger works to end hunger by activating college students to donate unused meal points to feed their peers and community members in need. By taking a resource that already exists (meal points) and using those funds to solve a global problem (hunger), Swipe Out Hunger promotes innovative solutions to a wasteful system.
Born under the name “Swipes for the Homeless” in 2009, a few friends at UCLA went into the dining hall, used their meal cards to take away some sandwiches and then delivered them around town. In a single week, 300 meals were collected. A few months later, the team partnered with UCLA’s Dining Services to allow students to donate their extra meal funds to provide 1,087 meals to community members. By the Fall of 2014, the team collected over 15,000 donated meals in a single week. In 2015, their movement was renamed to Swipe Out Hunger but their objectives to end hunger, raise awareness about this issue, and foster student leadership have remained central to their mission.
The organization has served 1.2 million meals and was called a Champion of Change by The White House. Rachel was recognized on the 2017 Forbes’ 30 Under 30 for Social Entrepreneurship. Under her leadership, the organization has scaled nationally and tripled its budget. Swipe Out Hunger has been recognized by The White House, Forbes, The Case Foundation, and other influencers as a benchmark for positive change on America’s college campuses and an emerging leader in the non-profit field of hunger awareness and alleviation.
