A most plentiful bounty

    Tonight was a good night for free food on campus. There were not one, but two organizations distributing free meals. The kicker was they were next door to each other!

The first was provided by the Pacific Island Heritage group. In celebration of Pacific Island emphasis week, they hosted a dinner social. On the menu was white rice, sweet and sour chicken, Saskatchewan chicken, pineapple, strawberries, and a limited assortment of melons. This was my first legit free meal which did not require social engineering. It was not as exciting as the pizza caper, but it was more gratifying somehow.

The second meal I found out about too late. The Get Into Weber group was serving a vegetarian friendly  spread of pasta with white or red sauce, salad, and brownies. Not quite the schmorgus board the Pacific Islanders were offering, but sustenance nonetheless. It seemed they expected a bit more commitment, also. So I snagged a brownie and split.

An undertaking of grand frugality

I am Vinny Longa. Nice to meet you. I am a college student. I was going to call myself a poor college student, but by the standards of world poverty, I’m pretty rich. So, I am a college student who has enough money to provide for my necessities, and some more.

Although I have enough money for what I need, their are things I want which I can’t yet afford. So, in an effort to be able to afford those things while not generating any additional income, I took a look at my life to see what I was spending all my money on. As it turns out, food is number one on the list (just a little more than rent). Seeing as I can’t just stop eating (although the body can go without food for about 40 days, I’m not choosing that option) I decided I need to look into free food. Here’s where you come in. I noticed on campus it’s not too hard to find a club or organization giving away free food. About once a week there is someone handing out food in the Union, or handing out invitations to events with free food.

So, it’s my mission to find these events and partake. I shall be a sojourner of generous clubs. Today was my first experience. Here’s how it went down.

I swung by the office of our campus newspaper, the Signpost to pick up a large, tasty piece of digitally formatted video. Upon entering the building which the office was located, a pleasant aroma hit me. My mind immediately thought of Pizza; Papa Johns in particular. Once I got the data from my friend, I inquired about the pleasant smell, to which he replied “Oh, our staff is having a meeting and they bought pizza for everyone”. I was hungry. I was low on funds. They had pizza. I’m going in. “Do you suppose I could sneak a couple slices?” “I don’t know. Let’s find out”. And so my adventure began. I must admit, it was less dramatic than I’m leading you to believe. I entered the room, and took a seat on the floor. I waited for the first person to get up and partake. As soon as he did, I got up and approached the table. Without saying a word, the journalist handed me a paper plate and asked what kind of pizza I was hovering over. I opened the box for him to reveal the remaining 3 quarters of a pepperoni-under-the -cheese pie from The Pie. He shrugged it off as I helped myself to a slice of pepperoni goodness, and then a veggie slice. Then, in one swift movement I scooped up my backpack, walked out the door, and over to the Union to enjoy my winnings. I’m not sure if anyone even noticed I had used my ninja-like capabilities to procure a couple slices, or if anyone even noticed I didn’t belong. But I got my first free meal, no one got hurt, and all is right with the world.