Free Food Giveaway Professor

Many of us assume that college kids have plenty of eating options. They have a meal plan! They make dinner with a microwave and a hot pot! They pool resources and make a group feast! But reality can look a lot different when you factor in the fact that many students are on very tight budgets.

University of Illinois Clinical Assistant Professor Toni Gist has gained a campus-wide reputation by tackling the largely unrecognized issue of food insecurity one donation at a time. She's called the "Food Giveaway Professor." When Gist realized how pervasive food insecurity is on campus, she started gathering extra food from her home to bring to her nutrition classes. Donations and outreach grew, and now she offers a variety of fresh, canned and packaged foods for students at Bevier Hall before, during and after classes. Everything is free.

Meet Professor Gist in this short documentary by Anna Koh and Annisyn Krebs-Carr.