World Food Movement Provides Free Weekly Lunches to Middlesex College Students

There’s an old saying that there’s no such thing as a free lunch. Well, there is at Middlesex College.

Students are invited to enjoy a free, nutritious vegetarian lunch, served buffet style, in the College Center every Thursday from noon to 1 p.m. provided by the World Food Movement.

“Filling stomachs is a basic need,” said Hari Das, a representative of the World Food Movement. “Usually, there is a program at schools that comes from a grant, but this is one-of-a-kind. The students are always surprised; they say ‘Is it free?’ We say yes. We have top-quality, top-notch food.”

On a recent Thursday, three tables were set up in the College Center with two large red containers filled with food. The menu included veggie confetti pasta, lemon herb dressing, a spinach smoothie, and banana cupcakes.

The World Food Movement, a nonprofit organization based in Edison, NJ, strives to provide nutritious meals to students and communities. According to Community Resource Coordinator Amanda Lyons, 35 percent of students surveyed have experienced limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate food. Fifty-one percent said they experienced a high level of food insecurity.

The Middlesex College Community Resource Hub and Food Pantry sees an average of 190 visits each week. Since September 2025, 717 unique students have been served by the Food Pantry.

“We are striving to serve students holistically, recognizing that academic persistence faces major barriers when a student’s basic needs are not met,” said Lyons. “We extend care through nutritional support through our Food Pantry and with amazing community partners like the World Food Movement. Our Community Resource Hub helps students access additional basic needs support on campus and beyond.  We aim to empower student wellness and assure our students that they belong here.”

Das connected with Lyons in 2023 through Sewa Diwali, an initiative of Dharmic communities throughout the United States that donates food to those in need. The World Food Movement began providing free meals to students on campus in 2024, with take-out meals served through the Food Pantry, and has since expanded to serve 100 students each week with the buffet on Thursdays. All leftovers are distributed in to-go containers from the Food Pantry.

Das, a native of India, represents one of the world’s biggest nonprofits, the Akshaya Patra Foundation, which serves 2.3 million people a day in Indian public schools. The Akshaya Patra Foundation also has partnerships in London and Africa.

“We wanted to do something in America and through our research we found there were a lot of programs for women, infants, and children and for the homeless, but students get forgotten,” said Das. “We found a lot of counties in New Jersey were food-deficient locations, and there was a lot of insecurity among students, and we wanted to address it here.”