Hunger Lunch partners with UNC graduate's 'So Good Pupusas'

Hunger Lunch is back and ready — with fork and knife in hand — to nourish UNC, now offering rice and beans through UNC alum Cecilia Polanco’s food business, So Good Pupusas.

Originally, rice and beans were sold by Hunger Lunch through TROSA — a rehabilitation program for people with substance abuse. TROSA ended its partnership with Nourish-UNC, a committee of the Campus Y, during the 2015-16 school year after it decided the partnership was no longer profitable, said Nourish-UNC Co-Director Hannah Smith.

In the spring, Hunger Lunch partnered with Vimala’s Curryblossom Cafe and this fall, it has forged a new partnership with Polanco’s business.

Smith said Hunger Lunch benefits UNC students by providing meals and benefits the community by partnering with local businesses.

The money Nourish makes from its ventures, like Hunger Lunch, goes to nonprofit organizations abroad.

This summer, Nourish used the money to send a team of interns to Uganda to educate groups of girls and women about female health and the stigma around menstruation.

"(Hunger Lunch) is an essential pillar of Nourish and fulfills all of the aspects of the mission of the Campus Y — achieving social justice in all areas, having foreign partnerships and working to meet the needs of all sorts of people at once,” Smith said.

Senior Brian Riefler said he appreciates Hunger Lunch’s food as well as their purpose.

“It’s good food for the price, and it goes to a good cause,” Riefler said. “The only thing is, I wish they had more food because sometimes I show up about an hour in and it’s gone.”

Smith said one of Nourish’s objectives is to develop community-based, mutually beneficial and sustainable partnerships with other organizations.

“We’re really excited to be working with Cecilia, and although we’ve switched caterers a lot recently, we appreciate every customer that’s been really flexible with us, and we appreciate every caterer because at the end of the day, Nourish is a student-run organization ... so it hasn’t been as consistent as we want it to be, but every week we’re improving,” Smith said.

Hunger Lunch co-chairperson Asha Patel said this year, Hunger Lunch is working toward continued growth.

“We are really excited to be able to expand our new partnership and also try to target a broader base of students ... we’re trying to reach out to different communities of students that don’t know about Hunger Lunch or Nourish, so that’s one of our big goals,” Patel said.

“Also, with our partnership with Cecilia, we hope that by partnering with us her business can really take off. By that, we know that our partnership is mutually beneficial.”

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