Zag Dining Partnership with ACSS
By: Courtney Mueller, Zag Dining
When it comes to dining programs, it is easy to assume that their sole purpose is to feed a community. However, in the case of Zag Dining, we serve a much larger purpose. In addition to providing great food around the clock for your students, we are also committed to being green. Much like serving up a dish of food, we are serving up information and encouragement with regard to sustainable practices. Our commitment to sustainability is deeper rooted than meets the eye.
One aspect of Zag Dining that some may not be aware of is our partnership with ACSS, also known as the Advisory Council on Stewardship and Sustainability. The ACSS mission statement reads:
“Consonant with our Jesuit and Catholic identity, respect for creation and the integral development and flourishing of the human person are inseparable from a faith that does justice. Thus, the Advisory Council on Stewardship and Sustainability (ACSS) is an ad hoc University committee responsible for making recommendations to the Cabinet regarding the University’s impact on and stewardship of the environment. The ACSS is composed of Gonzaga faculty, staff, and students who are concerned about environmental stewardship and sustainability.”
This partnership is vital, both to Zag Dining and the larger Gonzaga community. Our partnership with ACSS gives us more reason to educate students about the environment and bring about awareness, much like anything else taught in an educational setting. This education and awareness is coupled with encouragement to continue green practices in their personal lives. These activities are great because not only do they better our environment, they leave an imprint with our students. Practicing something “green,” like purchasing sustainable food or reducing water usage, can overlap into personal lives. For example, it can make them more independent and conscious of how their actions and decisions will affect not just the environment, but the people and situations around them.
It is our duty to look after the environment as humans, but even more so as products of a Jesuit institution. This partnership has also brought about the launch of a sister-blog to our main Zag Dining one, called SustainableZag and can be found on WordPress. The idea came about from a former student of GU who was a member of ACSS. We are excited to get our story out and share news of how we as a business are staying true to our own commitments, per Sodexo, but also incorporating the standards of ACSS and teaching the students something extra that they can use in their everyday lives.