A new student organization on campus is aiming to help the homeless by donating UF's leftovers.
Gator Community Hunger Outreach & Mediate Program, or Gator CHOMP, will give UF's uneaten food to St. Francis House, a local homeless shelter.
The group will begin taking the leftover food from Gator Dining Services to feed Gainesville's homeless on Sept. 22.
Kyle Robisch, a UF sophomore and founder of the organization, said he's hoping for a strong student interest.
Robisch said Gator CHOMP would serve as a means for students to better connect with the Gainesville area.
The city goes beyond campus's borders, he said.
"If we can't take care of our own backyard, how can we take care of the rest of the world?" Robisch said.
Robisch came up with the idea for Gator CHOMP over the summer. After encouragement from Bonnie Lam, a UF sophomore and vice president of the organization, Robisch started making phone calls to put his ideas in action.
After contacting Suzanne Lewis, sustainability coordinator of Gator Dining Services, he said he discovered UF restaurants had been interested in donating the uneaten food for some time, but no one had taken initiative.
Lam said she's ready to get the organization off the ground.
"I want to see CHOMP last and grow," she said. "Our board has come up with so many great ideas that I cannot wait to see come to fruition."
The main goal of the organization will be delivering food, but it is also planning to hold a forum to shed light on Gainesville's homeless problem, lobby for the rights of the homeless and host a hygiene drive to coincide with the forum.
"Rather than having us advocate for them, we will help them become effective self-advocates," Robisch said.
Student Government officially recognized the organization on Sept. 3, but Robisch said the group would go forth with its plans regardless of recognition to take the necessary action to feed Gainesville's homeless.
Gator CHOMP wants to keep its focus pure and insists on keeping a stance free from partisan lines, he added.
"It's not an ideological thing; it's a human fundamental thing," Robisch said. "We want to develop the organization into something that helps take the homeless off the street and put them back into society."
Gator CHOMP will have its first meeting Wednesday at the Reitz Union in room 287.
