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December 12, 2025
While many University of Chicago students leave campus for the holidays to be with friends and family, those who are unable to travel may be faced with the question of where to get their next meal. To address food insecurity during academic breaks, UChicago Dining, in partnership with the Center for Identity and Inclusion and Chartwells Higher Ed, launched the C.A.R.E.S. (Community Action Reaching Every Student) program during the 2022–2023 academic year, which has since become an invaluable resource for students remaining on campus and a testament to UChicago’s community spirit.
The program invites students on meal plans to donate guest swipes and Maroon Dollars, which are then redistributed to students in need over Thanksgiving, Winter Break, and Spring Break. Before C.A.R.E.S., of the roughly 22,000 guest swipes available each quarter, about 15,000 would go unused. Through the program, Chartwells now allows students to donate up to four swipes per quarter, redirecting resources that would have otherwise disappeared toward students who need them most.
C.A.R.E.S. was inspired by the experience of UChicago Dining’s Executive Director, Dr. Christopher Toote, who was a first-generation international student from the Bahamas. “I didn’t understand how Thanksgiving worked here because we don’t celebrate it to that extent in the Bahamas,” he explains. “My first Thanksgiving experience here was at Prairie View A&M University.” We had a dining hall where we ate every day, but to my amazement, the day before Thanksgiving, around midday, it closed. They weren’t open for dinner that Wednesday, so I had nothing to eat that night.” With no plans set in place for international students and no food in his dorm, Dr. Toote, subsisted on only tap water from his bathroom sink until that Saturday.
Many years later, while attending an innovation summit for Chartwells with university dining leaders from across the country, Dr. Toote raised a familiar question during a conversation about improving campus dining: What support exists for international students during Thanksgiving? The answer most colleges gave: none.
“It struck me, because I had that flashback to my own experience,” he says. “I thought, ‘Wait a minute, after all these years, campuses still aren’t doing anything?’ We realized we weren’t doing anything on our campus either. And that’s how the idea for this program was born, to support international students and others who don’t have the opportunity to travel home during academic breaks.”
In less than four years, the program has grown significantly and has even been adopted as a model by other universities. In the 2024–2025 academic year, students donated 1,918 guest swipes, an increase of 413% from the year prior. Kristina Baker, Associate Director, CSL Technology Solutions in the Office of the Bursar, and one of the program’s lead organizers, attributes this growth to promotional partnerships with organizations like the Undergraduate Student Government, as well as the rollout of a more streamlined donation system.
Now, students can give directly through the GET app, the same platform they already use to check meal plan balances and purchase Phoenix Cash. “Having the ability to easily donate from anywhere in the country at your fingertips has made a huge difference,” Baker explains. Though you don’t have to be a student with a meal plan to help out. The C.A.R.E.S. team is still seeking volunteers to assist with set-up, distribution, and clean-up during Winter Break. If you or someone you know would like to get involved, you can sign up for a shift here.