Published: March 5, 2019

This past January, CU Boulder Parking Services collected 778 non-perishable food items and waived more than $4,100 in parking fines in their Food for Fines campaign. Parking Services then donated those food items to Boulder’s Harvest of Hope Pantry.

"The Food for Fines program at CU has been an incredible resource for the Pantry,” said Harvest of Hope Pantry Executive Director Riley Bright. “There are people on the CU campus who are in a position to support the Pantry, and there are also people who may need to access our services from time to time.”

Through Food for Fines, anyone who had received a parking citation before Jan. 1, 2019, could donate a minimum of five non-perishable food items to have one current unpaid citation waived. The citation must not have been sent to collections or have been placed on the student tuition and fee bill.

“One of the strategic imperatives that the chancellor announced in 2016 was to positively impact humanity,” said Tom McGann, director of CU Boulder’s Parking Services. “When we were discussing this as a team, our enforcement division came up with the campaign.”

This is the fifth time since 2016 that CU Parking Services has held the Food for Fines program. During these campaigns, CU Boulder Parking Services has waived more than $23,000 in fines and donated approximately 5,800 non-perishable food items.