Pi Sigma Epsilon plans to bring back their flex meals project mid-November. PSE is a co-ed national sales and marketing fraternity that takes on a wide range of service and for-profit projects each year.

The service project was essentially created to serve and impact community members in need by utilizing UNI student flex meals that often go unused.

PSE brings community members to campus and encourages students to host these families with their unused  dining center flex meals.

Last year, 49 students provided community members with 261 meals over a three-day period, according to Meghan Jansen, junior global marketing and business economics major and co-manager of the flex meals project.

Last year, participating families registered with the Northeast Iowa Food Bank.This year, however, those serving on the PSE Flex Meal committee chose to reach out to community members primarily through local churches in both Cedar Falls and Waterloo.

“This year we decided to take a little bit of a different approach because we felt we could reach more people,” said Abigail Borchert, sophomore co-manager of the flex meals project.

PSE is currently working closely with seven churches in the Cedar Valley, such as the Saint Patrick Catholic Church of Cedar Falls and the First Baptist Church in Waterloo.

In order to help to reach their goal of 800 meals, PSE has extended the length of their project to five days, while also offering an additional afternoon dining option to the community on Saturday, Nov. 14.

Evening meals will be offered to community members starting on Monday, Nov. 11-14, as well as the following Monday and Tuesday.

Approximately 85 students have signed up thus far to potentially give meals to 524 community members, reaching the halfway point of the 800 flex meal goal, said Borchert.

Borchert went on to say that the goal of 800 meals will serve as a buffer, as PSE members anticipate individual community members to participate more than once throughout the week, just as many had last year.

PSE encourages students to register online, through an electronic survey, to host a family in need. This survey, along with additional information about the project, can be found on the Flex Meal 2015 Facebook page. The Facebook group page is frequently updated with posts in regards to their goal numbers and currently has over 100 members.

“Something [like hunger] that’s happening in the community, we can solve that by a simple solution of using the flex meals that already exist,” said Jansen.