The Campus Kitchens Project is a student-led hunger relief organization. Our mission is to use service as a tool to: Strengthen Bodies by using existing resources to meet hunger and nutritional needs in our community; Empower Minds by providing leadership and service learning opportunities to students, and educational benefits to adults, seniors, children, and families in need; and Build Communities by fostering a new generation of community-minded adults through resourceful and mutually beneficial partnerships among students, social service agencies, businesses and schools. The student leaders at each of our 12 Campus Kitchens live out our mission every day by collecting unused but still usable food from their school's dining services. Paired with donations from area restaurants and grocery store food drives, these students prepare and deliver thousands of nourishing meals to community agencies and individuals in need. We also use on-campus kitchen space to teach culinary and life skills to unemployed men and women, thanks to the expertise of our student, faculty and staff volunteers. In all of this, we give young people a place where they can see the direct impact of their volunteer work and grow into strong leaders. Since 2001, we have recovered more than 700,000 pounds of food and turned that into 628,000 meals, using the energy of more than 161,000 volunteer hours.