The Sunday Cooks gave back the $5,000 they won from a sustainability competition last spring after student organizations and the university disagreed with their use of the competition money.

The organization won the Green for Green Sustainability Initiative competition held by the Loyola Association of Students for Sustainability last April. The competition required students to create a project making Loyola more sustainable. The Sunday Cooks, a group of Loyola students who provide culinary services, took the win with their Olympic Waste Management Corporation project that proposed a composting plan for Loyola and Tulane.

However, they did not use the money directly for composting. Instead, the Sunday Cooks used the $5,000 for a pasta-making machine and packing supplies in hopes to gain revenue toward the composting project, according to Christoph Dornemann, a member of the Sunday Cooks who participated in the competition and mass communication senior.

However, LASS, Loyola University Community Action Program and the Sustainability Committee disagreed with the Cooks’ initial use of the money and held meetings with them this semester regarding the issue and to find a solution.

“The $5,000 was not used in the way that (the Sunday Cooks) had proposed to us,” said Samantha Montano, chairwoman of LUCAP and psychology senior.

Montano said that the Sunday Cooks were given $1,200 in prize money and $5,000 to use towards the project, which was controlled through a university account.

Dornemann said that buying the pasta machine was not a disregard of the compost plan or the competition rules, but was a way to make the plan happen. According to Dornemann, the compost machine would cost $150,000 and directly using the $6,200 for the compost machine was not efficient.

The meetings with the Sunday Cooks and Robert Reed, assistant vice president of Student Affairs, regarding the use of the money began early this semester and lasted until about two weeks ago when the Cooks decided to give the money back. Dornemann said the Sunday Cooks tried to negotiate the use of the money and tried to prove that the Cooks were not disregarding the composting project by purchasing the pasta machine and supplies.

The members of the Sunday Cooks initially planned to fund the composting project through door-to-door donations and grants as well as the competition money. After consultation with Global Recycling Network and not receiving the grants they anticipated, the Sunday Cooks decided to buy the pasta machine and packing supplies to gain revenue, Dornemann said.

Out of the seven competing teams, the Sunday Cooks’ project won the audience and Green for Green judges with composting because it is relatable, said Margaret Sands, co-captain of LASS and environmental studies senior.

Faith Akgun, co-captain of LASS and philosophy senior, said she was also disappointed but said she looks forward to the next composting project.

“The situation is taken care of and now we are moving forward with composting,” Akgun said.

Sands agreed that the important thing to focus on now despite the miscommunication and misuse of the money is composting.

“Our priority is that composting happens and Loyola will be able to do it,” she said.

Akgun and Sands said that LASS, LUCAP and Sodexo are currently working with Nola Green Roots for a new composting plan. They are funding it with the $5,000 originally given to the Sunday Cooks.

Sands said the new compost project with Nola Green Roots could save 2,000 cubic feet of waste a year from landfills, which is important for Louisiana where recycling is not the top priority.

Dornemann said the Sunday Cooks are also working with Nola Green Roots for the composting project.

Jamie Futral can be reached at [email protected]