Late one evening at Sewanee, a student swipes an ID card to quietly enter a campus pantry and gather food and toiletries for the week. In Nashville, a Belmont senior knows she’ll have dinner during finals thanks to a classmate’s donated meal swipes. And at Rhodes College in Memphis, a loaf of fresh bread from the new Lynx Pantry means another student won’t go to bed hungry.
These scenes reflect a larger movement across college campuses to ensure no student goes hungry. At Belmont University, Rhodes College, and the University of the South (Sewanee) – all part of the Sullivan Foundation Network of Schools – students and faculty have stepped up with creative solutions to campus hunger. Each initiative is unique, but all embody a shared ethos of servant leadership and sustainable community impact. The Sullivan Foundation, which has long championed service above self, helps nurture this ethos through programs like the Ignite Retreats, Sullivan Fellows, and Service Corps that empower young leaders to turn empathy into action. The following stories from these Tennessee campuses show how servant leadership in action is making a lasting difference – and inspiring others across the Sullivan network.
Belmont University: Meal Swipes and “The Store”
At Belmont University, the fight against student hunger begins in the campus cafeteria. In partnership with the nonprofit Swipe Out Hunger, Belmont’s Dining Services and Office of Student Care & Support launched a Meal Swipe Drive in which students can donate unused meal swipes to a collective “swipe bank”. Those swipes are then quietly redistributed to peers in need by adding meals to their student ID cards – no paperwork, no public announcements. “No student should have to choose between focusing on finals and finding their next meal,” says Charles Couture, Belmont’s dining manager, underscoring the program’s purpose. This Belmont effort is part of a national campaign led by Swipe Out Hunger to implement practical, campus-based solutions for student hunger. Within weeks of the drive’s start, dozens of meal credits had been transferred to students facing food insecurity, allowing them to eat regularly and focus on their studies without fear of going hungry. For the students donating their extra swipes, the drive is just as meaningful. “As a freshman I sometimes struggled to afford meals,” one senior donor recalls, “so being able to pay it forward now feels really good.”
Belmont’s push to alleviate hunger extends beyond its campus gates through The Store, a free community grocery co-founded in 2020 by Belmont alumnus Brad Paisley and his wife, actress Kimberly Williams-Paisley, in partnership with the university. The Store operates like a small supermarket for families and individuals facing hard times – clients can shop for groceries at no cost in a normal, dignified setting. “This has been our dream,” Kimberly Williams-Paisley said at The Store’s opening, “people will be able to come and shop with dignity and make choices for their family”. The experience is even down to a mechanical pony outside for kids to ride, just as they might find at a regular grocery. Paisley noted that the goal was to let parents shop in a familiar way and spare children the stress of wondering where their next meal will come from. Located on Belmont’s campus in Nashville, The Store quickly became a vital resource; in its first year of operation, it provided nearly 1.3 million free meals to local residents. Belmont students and faculty play an active role – health sciences faculty and law students offer free clinics and advice to The Store’s shoppers, and many students volunteer to stock shelves and assist patrons. Belmont President Dr. Bob Fisher praised the partnership as an extension of the university’s mission to empower students to “engage and transform the world”, noting that Belmont was laying the groundwork to serve The Store’s clients through ongoing volunteer initiatives. Both the Meal Swipe Drive and The Store exemplify Belmont’s commitment to community service (a quality the Sullivan Foundation applauds and fosters) and show how a campus can leverage its resources to ensure neighbors – whether classmates or local families – don’t go hungry. In Nashville, where 1 in 7 people (and 1 in 5 children) struggles with food insecurity, The Store serves as a crucial resource to help families get back on their feet.
Rhodes College: Lynx Pantry and a Culture of Belonging
At Rhodes College, addressing student hunger meant creating the Lynx Pantry – a collaboration between the Rhodes Student Government and the student life office known as Belonging at Rhodes (an initiative focused on inclusion and student support). Tucked away in an old room of Hyde Hall, the pantry opened in 2024 to quietly assist any student struggling with food insecurity. Inside, its shelves hold a variety of food items – including options for diverse dietary needs like halal, kosher, and dairy-free choices – as well as essentials such as toiletries and hygiene products. Even fresh bread arrives weekly, a donation from a local bakery that ensures students can enjoy a comforting staple. Students may access the pantry discreetly by contacting the Belonging office, taking whatever groceries they need with no fuss or stigma. The project is truly community-driven: Staff members have pitched in by collecting supplies, and faculty and alumni often drop off donations. What began as a student government initiative has become a campus-wide effort to make sure no Rhodes student goes hungry. One student recalled surviving on instant ramen and popcorn for weeks after her meal plan ran out – exactly the kind of hardship the Lynx Pantry is designed to eliminate.
“We wanted to make it as easy as possible for someone who’s hungry to get help – no shame, no hurdles,” explains one student organizer, emphasizing the pantry’s low-barrier approach. The Lynx Pantry’s launch has strengthened Rhodes’ culture of empathy and inclusion. Student leaders saw peers skipping meals and took action, reinforcing the idea that everyone at Rhodes belongs and deserves support. This endeavor aligns with a proud tradition of service at the college – one nurtured by its long affiliation with the Sullivan Foundation. In fact, one Rhodes alumna, Julie Gehrki ’02, first made her mark in service as a student here (earning the Sullivan Award at graduation) and has since carried that ethos into a remarkable career. Now serving as President of the Walmart Foundation, Gehrki oversees more than $1 billion in annual charitable giving for initiatives like hunger relief, and in 2025 she received the Sullivan Foundation’s Luminary Award for her lifelong commitment to service. Her journey from participating in the student-run soup kitchen to directing global philanthropy is a testament to what can grow from the seeds of servant leadership planted in college. It’s an inspiration to current Rhodes students, who realize that the small act of stocking a campus pantry today could be the first step toward making an even bigger impact in the world tomorrow.
University of the South (Sewanee): A Student-Initiated 24/7 Pantry
In 2022, Rev. David Goodpaster – director of the local Community Action Committee food pantry – posed a challenge to a group of Sewanee student interns: “What does food insecurity look like on our campus?” He suspected that students in need might not be utilizing the town’s food bank due to barriers like transportation or stigma. Taking that challenge to heart, the student interns investigated and found that some classmates were indeed quietly going without meals. One of them, Anne Dobson Ball (C’23), decided to make campus hunger the focus of her senior project. She visited other colleges to study their food pantries and gathered data on Sewanee students’ needs, then presented a proposal for an on-campus pantry to university administrators. The idea was met with enthusiastic support and plans for a “student supply closet” quickly moved forward.
In the fall of 2023, during Homecoming weekend, Sewanee unveiled its new Student Pantry and Supply Closet with a ribbon-cutting ceremony. Located in a basement room of the Cleveland Annex, adjacent to the main dining hall, the pantry provides a range of free essentials: nonperishable foods, toiletries (from toothpaste to shampoo), school supplies, laundry detergent, and even frozen prepared meals made from leftover dining hall food. Any undergraduate or seminary student can access the pantry seven days a week, from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., simply by swiping their student ID at the door. Once inside, students are welcome to take whatever they need while being mindful of others – an honor system that has worked well.
For students who use the pantry, the impact is immediate and tangible. “It sounds small, but having those things right away – it mattered,” one sophomore said, recalling a night he had no other way to get dinner. The pantry is overseen by Sewanee’s Office of Civic Engagement, but two student interns, Mary Margaret Lemburg (C’26) and Price Pennington (C’25), handle the day-to-day operations. Even alumni have pitched in – upon hearing about the new pantry, one graduate sent a bulk donation of toiletries and snacks to help stock the shelves. University leaders have praised the Student Pantry as a shining example of Sewanee’s values – and the Sullivan Foundation’s – in action: a solution created by students, for students, that will strengthen the campus community for years to come.
From Campus Initiatives to a Lasting Legacy
As the Sullivan Foundation celebrates 100 years of service, these Tennessee campus stories offer hope for the next century. In fact, at the Foundation’s centennial celebration this spring, stories like these took center stage – and alumni such as Julie Gehrki were honored for showing how servant leadership can scale from campus to global impact. They show that addressing basic human needs is not separate from education but essential to it – when students have their needs met, they can thrive and give back. More importantly, these examples demonstrate that when young people are empowered to lead with compassion, they will rise to the challenge, whether by sharing meal swipes, stocking a pantry shelf, or opening a community grocery. Today’s quiet acts of caring on campus can grow into tomorrow’s broader efforts to fight hunger. And through Sullivan Foundation initiatives like the Ignite Retreats, Sullivan Fellows, and Service Corps, more students are being equipped every year to turn this kind of compassion into action in their own communities. In the Sullivan tradition, these student changemakers are already building a better world, one meal at a time.
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References
Belmont University. (2023, November 15). Belmont Dining partners with Swipe Out Hunger to fight student food insecurity. Belmont News. Retrieved from https://news.belmont.edu/belmont-dining-partners-with-swipe-out-hunger/
Belmont University. (2020, March 13). Brad Paisley, Kimberly Williams-Paisley partner with Belmont to open The Store. Belmont News. Retrieved from https://news.belmont.edu/brad-paisley-kimberly-williams-paisley-partner-with-belmont-to-open-the-store/
Feeding America. (2023). Hunger in Tennessee: Nashville statistics. Retrieved from https://www.feedingamerica.org/hunger-in-america/tennessee
Rhodes College. (2024, February 2). Lynx Pantry opens to support students facing food insecurity. Rhodes News. Retrieved from https://www.rhodes.edu/stories/lynx-pantry-supports-students
Sullivan Foundation. (2025, April 5). Julie Gehrki receives 2025 Sullivan Luminary Award for global leadership in philanthropy. Retrieved from https://sullivanfdn.org/julie-gehrki-sullivan-luminary-award/
Walmart Foundation. (2024). Our commitment to hunger relief. Retrieved from https://walmart.org/what-we-do/hunger-relief
University of the South. (2023, October 23). Sewanee opens student pantry to combat food insecurity on campus. Office of Civic Engagement News. Retrieved from https://new.sewanee.edu/campus-pantry-launch/
University of the South. (2022, November 10). Student interns propose campus pantry after studying food insecurity. Civic Engagement Spotlight. Retrieved from https://civicengagement.sewanee.edu/news/student-pantry-initiative/
University of the South. (2024, January 12). Student leaders manage Sewanee’s supply closet and pantry. Retrieved from https://sewanee.edu/news/student-pantry-update/
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