Subject: October Update: Dining Forum TOMORROW; Food Resources; Campus-wide Surveys!

From: Alan Y Zhu <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 23 Oct 2022 20:18:06 -0400

tl;dr:

   -

   Come to the residential dining forum
   <https://forms.gle/VLFEEgxwwHrbLg9a7> on October 24, 7 - 8:30 PM @ BC
   Porter Room for free dinner and discussions about what YOU want from MIT
   Dining!
   -

   See food and dining hall related resources <https://linktr.ee/foodatmit>
   for ALL students below and email [email-masked] with any
   questions!
   -

   Fill out the NCHA survey (sent from [email-masked]), and the
   post-REX/house life surveys when they arrive!

Hellooooo beloved dorm resident,

We hope you’re having a good midterm season! (Or, at least as good as it
can be
<https://static01.nyt.com/images/2016/08/05/us/05onfire1_xp/05onfire1_xp-superJumbo-v2.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp>.)
We wanted to provide you some updates from 🦈 DormCon 🦈, including some
important food-related resources and some important surveys so you can
provide your input on important campus-wide decisions!

Message from the DormCon Dining Chairs

We are Rebecca and Mitali, the Dining Chairs for this school year! We’re
here to serve as a resource and ambassador for you, a dorm resident, in any
food related matters. We are DormCon’s main advocates on food and dining
related issues, in both dining and cook-for-yourself dorms in discussions
related to in-house and retail dining. Recently, the dining chairs have
worked to create feedback forms for dining, get more vendors into the stud,
and to help expand programs like SwipeShare.

If you’re on a meal plan, we are here to help you get your questions
answered, address your concerns to the best of our ability, and relay your
feedback. If you’re not on a meal plan, we also work on addressing food
security on campus and making sure that everyone has access to affordable,
nutritious food. If you are going hungry, please reach out to us and use
the resources linked here <https://linktr.ee/foodatmit> and included at the
bottom of this email!

(once more, with feeling)
Important Food + Dining Resources! <https://linktr.ee/foodatmit>

Also, we are inviting all students to the Residential Dining Forum where we
will be discussing residential dining and meal plans. The forum will take
place Monday, October 24, from 7:00 to 8:30PM in the Burton Conner Porter
Room. Dinner will be provided! Fill out this form if you have feedback:
https://forms.gle/VLFEEgxwwHrbLg9a7. Come talk to DormCon and MIT Dining
about your thoughts and ideas and ask questions!

If you have questions…

   -

   Email us! [email-masked]
   -

   For general questions concerning food and dining, you can reach out to
   MIT Dining administration: [email-masked]
   -

   Fill out feedback for dining halls: bit.ly/mit-dining.
   -

   Talk to your in house dining chairs or dorm student government!
   -

   Get to know the dining staff in your dorm! They’re generally lovely
   people and if they can have a better sense of the community's dining
   desires, they can help make it happen!
   -

   If you are facing food insecurity, connecting with your S^3 Dean is a
   great place to start.

Some survey reminders!

We wanted to remind you of some important surveys which are currently open
here at MIT—survey responses help inform MIT's approach to many different
Institute programs and policies, and so we strongly encourage you to fill
them out:

   -

   ACHA NCHA: This survey is the "National College Health Assessment,"
   which MIT uses to determine how it should fund and support programs that
   better student well-being. You should have received an email about this
   survey from [email-masked] on October 12th, 2022 with subject line
   "Complete the NCHA survey to help improve wellbeing at MIT"; the link in
   that email is custom to you. You can read about the survey's data privacy
   policy here
   <https://www.acha.org/documents/ncha/ACHA-NCHA-WEB_FAQ_FINAL_AUG_2022.pdf>
   and view the survey text here
   <https://www.acha.org/documents/ncha/ACHANCHA_III_Fall_2022_Codebook_8_15_2022.pdf>
   .
   -

   First-years will be receiving the post-REX survey soon, and all students
   will be receiving the House Life survey in a month or so. Please be on
   the lookout for those—they provide essential feedback for DormCon, dorm
   execs, house teams, and DSL!

Parting reminders

We want to help make sure that your dorm experience is the best that it can
be. As always, you can reach out to us at [email-masked] or on Piazza
<http://piazza.com/mit/fall2021/dormcon> if you have any questions,
concerns, or comments; or attend our General Body Meetings on alternate
Thursdays 7:00-8:30 PM (see schedule below for dates and locations for the
rest of the semester), where you can also get free dinner!

Date

Hosting Dorm

October 27, 2022

East Campus

November 10, 2022

Next

December 1, 2022

New Vassar

With love from DormCon,

Zawad Chowdhury 🦈

President

Alan Zhu 🦈

Vice President

Mitali Chowdhury 🦈

Dining Chair

Rebecca Lizarde 🦈

Dining Chair

Food + Dining Resources (you can also find them at
https://linktr.ee/foodatmit)

   -

   General List of Food + Financial Resources @ MIT
   <https://doingwell.mit.edu/foodandfinancial/>
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   MIT Food & Grocery Map
   <https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?ll=42.35466204810238%2C-71.0921191231349&z=14&utm_source=Publicate&utm_medium=email&utm_content=mit-food-amp-grocery-map-google-my-maps&utm_campaign=%5BDRAFT%5D%20FSAT%20Newsletter&mid=1i0YNzpQzO2Zou13n9ZahvjL1L7feLFA5>:
   Shows locations to find food on and around campus, including dining halls,
   grocery stores, and restaurants.
   -

   Swipeshare Information + Form
   <https://studentlife.mit.edu/s3/money-food-resources/food-resources>: A
   program for meal plan users to donate unused meal swipes. If you are having
   trouble accessing food for any reason, you can request swipes here! If a
   lack of resources is affecting your ability to get enough food, please
   email [email-masked].
   -

   Undergraduate Emergency Support Fund Request Form
   <https://studentlife.mit.edu/webforms/undergraduate-emergency-support-fund-request-form>:
   Request funds to obtain enough food for regular meals and cover
   “unforeseen, essential expenses.”
   -

   Apply for SNAP benefits (food stamps)
   <https://www.mass.gov/how-to/apply-for-snap-benefits-food-stamps>:
   Application for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program
   -

      Note: Due to COVID-19, SNAP eligibility for students has been
      expanded to include students who are eligible for federal work study
      and/or have an Expected Family Contribution (EFC) of $0. Full list of
      eligible circumstances can be found here
      <https://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/students>.
      -

   MIT Grocery Store Shuttles
   <https://web.mit.edu/facilities/transportation/shuttles/grocery.html>:
   Free shuttles to Costco, Daily Table, Whole Foods, and Trader Joe’s.
   -

   Daily Table <https://dailytable.org/>: A low cost grocery store in
   Central Square that accepts SNAP/EBT and provides free delivery within 2
   miles (this includes on campus residences!).
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   Too Good To Go <https://toogoodtogo.com/en-us/consumer>: An app created
   to provide reduced cost food from restaurants and grocery stores while
   preventing food waste!