The BAMCO Foundation Fellows Program
Spreading awareness about where our food comes from, and why our choices matter
As part of the Bon Appétit Management Company Foundation’s mission to provide education about food system issues, in 2009 we began a program of hiring three recent college graduates — who were sustainability champions on their campuses (all Bon Appétit clients) — as our West Coast, Midwest, and East Coast Fellows.
For stints of 1-2 years, the Fellows serve as a resource to students on Bon Appétit campuses in their region and are creative and resourceful in finding the best way to fit into their communities. They often work directly with faculty to integrate food system issues into their curriculum or guest lecture in classes, connecting what students are learning to what they are eating on campus. And, whenever possible, Fellows take students off campus, by hosting field trips to local Farm to Fork vendors or other relevant educational opportunities.
Fellows’ projects are constantly changing, but their focuses have included reducing food waste, defining fair farm labor, creating a network of student gardeners and farmers at colleges around the country, providing support and resources to students interested in running the Real Food Calculator, and starting food recovery programs. Their work provides us with fresh ideas and insight to help us live up to our motto, “food service for a sustainable future.”