Feeding the homeless with extra swipes

You might know them: They're the kids you might have sworn at on Saturday nights at Palladium dining hall for slowing down the line or for taking all the cookies.

But before you get impatient, know what's happening: Surplus Saturdays. On Saturdays, a group of NYU students gets together to pool their extra swipes and provide meals for more than 100 homeless people every week.

"As college students, we don't have any real responsibilities and obligations to anyone besides ourselves," CAS freshman Randy Scott Ray II said. "It's only natural that we should devote whatever extra time or resources we have to others, to those who need it."

Ray, who has been at NYU for two months now, realized during Welcome Week that many freshmen, like him, have 14-meals-a-week meal plans that prove to be too much — leaving them with several unused meals on Saturday nights when they expire. He decided to try to pass his extra meals out to the many homeless people who inhabit New York City.

He shared this idea with LSP freshman Anastasia Moryakova, and together they launched Surplus Saturdays, a group that hands out NYU meals to the homeless.

"We average 120 meals a week," Moryakova said.

Surplus Saturdays has met some criticism — namely that since leftover food from NYU kitchens is already donated to homeless shelters, a new organization is redundant. But Moryakova said Surplus Saturdays adds intimacy, something she believes the existing setup lacks.

Ray added: "When one person takes a meal from another person, as opposed to one person being surrounded by a group or at a shelter, they share something very personal. Often, we'll stop and we'll talk, and that human interaction is what they need. Regardless of what mental ailment, financial condition or addiction they're suffering from, they're still people."

Ray and Moryakova animatedly retold stories they've gathered over the course of the last eight Saturdays at NYU.

"There's one man I see on 14th and Fifth all the time, always reading a book, and I always get him something just so I can chat with him," Moryakova said.

Ray said he has spoken with a homeless man who has a Ph.D. and is homeless by choice.

Surplus Saturdays is comprised of a few regular attendees and other volunteers. At 6 p.m. every Saturday night, Moryakova makes an announcement to the Palladium dining hall, explaining what Surplus Saturdays does and finally asking that those with meals left for the week donate them if they're willing. About an hour later, having gathered and filled as many boxes as possible, they set off to distribute.

"On any given Saturday, I walk the streets with five strangers, people with similar or drastically different mindsets, talking and exchanging ideas, and it's fantastic to be a part of something so human and so cerebral at the same time," Moryakova said.

Steinhardt freshman Jacqueline Yoo added: "Sometimes it's more gratifying to spend your Saturday night giving back to the homeless than partying."

Tisch freshman Cassandra Orrantia agreed.

"We're extraordinarily privileged to be at NYU, and to pass that on is really important," she said. "It's fulfilling to see how appreciative people are."

Surplus Saturdays also encourages individual efforts outside of the organization.

"It doesn't have to be institutionalized to be effective," Ray said. "It isn't some profound idea, and it's easy. I hope every NYU student with a meal plan does it at some point."

Although Surplus Saturdays currently only distributes food, they are planning blanket and penny drives and are looking to collaborate with the Salvation Army to ensure that the homeless are warm through New York's fast-approaching winter.

One homeless man in Union Square spoke of Surplus Saturdays affectionately: "I look forward to Saturday nights with those NYU kids. It's awfully cold out, but they're always warm and smiling."

For more information join the Facebook group Surplus Saturdays @ NYU or show up at Palladium at 6 p.m. on Saturday night.

Rega Jha is a staff writer.