VEEP Award Ceremony

Dining and Housing have officially received their E3 designations and awards through the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality's VEEP (Virginia Environmental Excellence Program). Dining hosted an award ceremony and reception this afternoon over at the Runk Green Room, during which Amy Owens of the DEQ presented the awards (made of recycled content!) to Mark Doherty, Chief Housing Officer, and Brent Beringer, Director of Dining. In many ways, this is just the beginning of a long environmental sustainability road ahead of us, but it is always nice to revel in the successes every now and then. About forty people, including students, Housing and Dining staff, Business Operations administrators, and University administrators like Leonard Sandridge, came out to celebrate this wonderful achievement.

Don't forget to stop by the Fine Arts Cafe tomorrow afternoon between 4 and 6pm for some refreshments and the chance to meet your local producers!

Celebrate Sustainability Day With These Events

There is so much to report on from the last few weeks, but things keep flying forward and a proper update will have to wait. In the meantime, several upcoming events should pique your interest!

UVa Housing and Dining VEEP Award Ceremony. Monday, October 18th, 2pm, Runk Green Room. This joint ceremony will honor Housing and Dining's induction into the Exemplary Environmental Enterprise (E3) level of the Virginia Environmental Excellence Program (VEEP). The ceremony will be held next Monday, October 18th, at 2pm in the Green Room at Runk Dining Hall. A reception with refreshments provided by UVa Dining will immediately follow the ceremony.

UVa Food Collaborative Student Seminar Series. Monday, October 18th, 4-5:30pm, Newcomb Boardroom. Bart Elmore, PhD Candidate in the Department of History, presents "Turning Water into Pemberton's Wine of Coca: The Coca-Cola Company's Quest for Public Water Resources, 1886-2010."

Fine Arts Cafe Reception. Tuesday, October 19th, 4-6pm, Fine Arts Cafe. In honor of National Sustainability Day, stop by the FAC for some snacks and the chance to meet your local food producers.

FlashSem talk. Tuesday, October 19th, 5pm, Jeff Hall (Hotel C). I'll be giving a talk on the connections between UVa Dining's nutrition and sustainability programs. Sign up to attend here.

Stay tuned for pictures and accounts of last week's Fair Trade tasting event, the UVa Food Collaborative's successful panel on local food and the media, and the recent AASHE sustainability conference in Denver!

The Campus Kitchens Project at UVa

NBC 29 paid a visit to Runk Dining Hall this weekend to learn more about the great work that Campus Kitchens is doing here on Grounds and, more importantly, for the Charlottesville community. Students that volunteer with the CKP are not only working on important philanthropic issues; they are also forging bonds with a segment of the Charlottesville population that doesn't often connect with UVa. At the same time they are helping to eliminate food waste on Grounds and even learning about the food preparation and cooking process that happens inside UVa Dining kitchens. Check out the great story and accompanying video here: "Campus Kitchen Cooks For Cause at UVA" -- and then sign up to volunteer with them!