CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – (CLARKSVILLENOW) Three years ago, Campus Police at Austin Peay State University started helping students pay their parking fines and also supporting the S.O.S. Food Pantry at the university.
The program is called Food for Fines, and Police Chief Michael Kasitz said the idea came from someone who told him about a town they used to live in where there was a program to help collect food for those who are hungry.
The program takes place during finals week of the fall semester just before Christmas. “We allow students to pay their outstanding parking tickets with food items that we then turn over to the Save Our Students (S.O.S.) Food Pantry here on campus,” said Kasitz.
Only canned food items were accepted in the first year of the program and Kasitz said it stocked the food pantry throughout the entire spring semester. After the first year they started accepting other nonperishable foods like rice, beans, pasta, and cereal.
The cost of one fine equaled ten canned goods or ten pounds of rice, beans or pasta. Kasitz said after the food pantry began accepting fresh or frozen meat and meat was more expensive, two pounds of meat would pay for one fine.
Kasitz added that the program did not include paying for tickets with food if it involved parking in handicapped spaces. There was also a limit of two parking citations per person so say if someone had 10 or 12 parking tickets they couldn’t cover all of those with food.
Kasitz shared some figures of the amount of food collected over the holidays in 2016. He said 183 people paid for fines with food and 234 parking citations were waived.
Food collected included 2,063 cans of soup, fruit, and vegetables. 138 cans of tuna, along with nine cans of other meat, 290 pounds of rice, 39 pounds of pasta, 51 pounds of beans and 41 jars of peanut butter and jelly.
There were also 19 packets of mashed potatoes, 18 boxes of cereal, 53 boxed meals, 19 pounds of frozen meat and 28 other food items that could not be categorized. On a lighter note the Chief said that Ramen Noodles are not accepted when it comes to Food for Fines.
“Parking at Austin Peay, we try to do what’s best for the community. Our hope is we never write a parking citation. We want people to comply with the parking regulations. When they don’t we have to take enforcement action,” Kasitz said.
Kasitz added, we want people to know we want to do good in our community with our parking citations and this is the way that we can do it.
To find out more about the S.O.S. Food Pantry at Austin Peay, visit www.apsu.edu/volunteer, emailsos@spsu.edu or call 931-221-6120.