It seems like colleges find a new way to get more money out of students every day.

The meal plan commitment is certainly one of those.

But in this story from Reddit, the author finds a creative – and kind – way to use up the leftover dollars they were obligated to spend.

Check out the details!

I used my meal plan to feed over 120 less fortunate people

This happened my freshman year of college about 20 years ago.

My university had just invested in a big new dining hall, and to help pay for their investment, required all new students to buy a 150 meal plan both semesters.

This was a big financial burden being from a lower middle class family, but my parents pooled funds to help me out and make it happen.

It was a big expense, but at least the meals didn’t expire. That will be important later.

Shortly in to my first semester I found out from friends that the meals you didn’t use didn’t roll over.

Since I lived off campus I knew I wouldn’t be able to use them all.

Heading into November I realized I would end up with 60-75 meals leftover, and I complained about this a lot to family and friends because it seemed like such a waste.

In comes the plan.

My freshman year of college was also my cousin’s senior year and we hung out pretty often. He was the biggest trickster / prankster type you ever met.

And he came up with a heck of an idea.

One night while we were drinking he says, “What if you brought a bunch of homeless people to use up your meals! How much would that **** off those self righteous ********!”

We laughed all night, but the more I thought about the idea, the more I really started to like it.

We talked all weekend about it and hatched a plan.

They were going to use the excess to do some good.

On Monday morning we went down to the local salvation army around the corner. I have grown to really despise this organization, but in the early 2000s in small town USA its what we had.

We told the lady at the desk I would like to feed people in need with my meal plan.

She was hesitant at first but said she was working with people that this would be a huge blessing to, especially during the holiday season.

She helped me organize 2 days the following week where around 30 people would meet me to eat at the dining hall.

How would they know who would be their meal ticket? The author thought of everything.

I would wear a certain hat so they could find me, and we would go eat.

The day finally arrived and all kinds of people were there. There were homeless people in tattered clothes.

There were families with kids that seemed excited to eat out.

There was even one family I will always remember that seemed embarrassed to take a handout, but I made an effort to talk to everybody and make them feel welcomed.

At noon we headed into the dining hall.

She walked in with confidence and was ready to pay to do some good.

I walked up to the lady at the entrance and said, “These people are with me. They are my friends. I would like to swipe them in.”

She looked confused but reluctantly said okay.

To say we got every reaction humanly possible would be an understatement. There were staff that were obviously annoyed with the influx of diners.

There were students that were laughing.

There were students that were giving me the silent clap.

There were snobbish faculty members that seemed to be disgusted at the type of people coming into the dining hall.

I didn’t care at all. Eventually, a head staff member came up and said they knew what I was doing and they didn’t like it.

What wasn’t to like? The author had a response ready.

I said, “These are my friends eating with me. I paid for these meals. Am I doing anything wrong?” She was stumped.

The next day the same situation happened with the same reactions.

It seemed that I had caused quite a stir on campus, and it just so happened that the university president was eating there that day.

Her reaction was surprising!

She came up to me and said even though she would ask that I not tell me friends to do the same thing with their meals as the staff couldn’t handle the influx of diners, she was proud that her students had the heart to do something for others like that.

The following semester I did the exact same thing.

I even used my meals sparingly so I could bring more people.

The one memory that will always stick out in my head is the family with the little kids so excited to go to the pizza bar and soft serve ice cream machine giggling the whole time.

To this day it’s still one of the proudest moments of my life. Me and my friends and family still have a drink and chuckle over the story and the snooty, angry reactions I got.

The commenters seemed to really love this one.

Let’s see what they had to say.

Top comment is appreciative of the kind act, as someone who has needed help before.

Another commenter was inspired post-pandemic to help those in need in their community, too.

We need more of this, says another comment.

Not just filling bellies, but fighting stigmas as well.

Why don’t more schools put the leftover meals to good use?

A legendary act of kindness.

It sounds like this university was accidentally teaching the right kinds of lessons when it comes to human decency.

What a cool idea!

If you liked this post, you might want to read this story about a teacher who taught the school’s administration a lesson after they made a sick kid take a final exam.