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iCare

   

Meals to your Peers Using Excess Meal Plan Swipes.

iCare offers a meal donation program to allow on-campus students to donate excess meal swipes to their peers who have run out of swipes. This online portal allows you to confidentially donate or request meal swipes. Each swipe provides access to anything in the Dining Pavilion. 

Approval is subject to the availability of donated meal swipes. Donate or Request using MobileID or any smart device.

 

  • Dining services provides the student the opportunity to change your meal plan in August and again in November to ensure it is the best meal plan fit for you
  • A student who receives iCare gets more sleep and pays more attention in class because they are not hungry. They can exercise in the morning because they won’t feel nauseous from skipping dinner the night prior.
  • Almost half of the enrolled students are food insecure, meaning they do not have consistent access to daily meals.
  • Over a third of iCare recipients report that they have performed better in class and on exams as a result of receiving iCare.
  • With iCare, students can eat more and feel more healthy and ready for class. It also allows them to not stress about being hungry.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dining has made adjustments to the on-campus Meal Plan to help alleviate the accumulation of funds, but with a blanketed Meal Plan program, a traditional meal swipes dining program that focuses on bringing everybody to the dining center for meals.

Due to student demand, we offer this meal donation program to allow on-campus students to donate excess meal swipes to their on-campus peers for those who have run out of swipes. Residential student, Commuter student, or employee with a valid meal plan is eligible to donate excess meal swipes into the iCare program.

If a student has an active meal plan and has used up all their meal plan swipes and depleted their Cat/Dining Dollars, he/she may request donated meal swipes through the iCare program. Meal swipe request is available immediately and is calculated to cover student until the regular meal plan resets every Sunday at 2:00 am.

The iCare program was developed and administered by the CatCard office, which can be accessed via MobileID or any smart device or desktop at iCare Online Portal (http://icare.ucmerced.edu).

 

       To Donate:

  • You must have one of the active meal plans below:  
    • Residential Meal Plans (Any 6, or 11, or 14, or 17)
    • Commuter Meal Plans (Commuter 25, 50, 100, 200)  
    • Faculty & Staff Meal Plans (F/S 25, 50, 100, 200)  

 For more information about the meal plan programs, please visit the Dining Services website.

  • Unlimited meal plans or Guest meal swipes are not allowed to donate.
  • Note: residential meal plan reset every Sunday at 2:00 am. We suggest reviewing your meal plan swipe balance before the reset and considering donating your excess residential meal plan swipes.
  • Option: if you are not going to be on campus or will not be dining at the Pavilion, please recognize donating your excess residential meal plan swipes.

 

       To Request:

  • You must meet all the criteria below:
    • You have a residential meal plan (Any 6, or 11, or 14, or 17)
    • You are a UCM campus resident and have a Meal Plan Swipe balance = 0.
    • Your Cat Dollars and Dining Dollars combined balance is less than $50.
    • You have not requested more than 3 times from iCare this semester.
    • You may only request once per week either on Thursday, Friday, or Saturday.
  • Unlimited meal plans or Guest meal swipes are not allowed to request.
  • Meal swipe request is calculated to cover students until the meal plan resets every Sunday at 2:00 am. 
  • Approval will be subject to the available meal swipe donation pool.

 

 

  1. Go to the website: iCare.
  2. Log onto CAS portal using UCM Net ID and password.
  3. Click Donate Now.
  4. Select your meal plan and the number of meal swipes you would like to donate.
  5. Click Donate Now and Submit. Your meal swipe donation is immediate and email confirmation is sent to you.

 

  1. Go to the website: iCare
  2. Log onto CAS portal using UCM Net ID and password.
  3. Click Request Now.
  4. If you meet the criteria, you should see the Request Now icon.
  5. Click Request Now and Submit. Your meal swipe request is immediate and email confirmation is sent to you.

 

If you have concerns about your ability to access food while on campus please visit our Food Security Resource.

 For more information about Dining Services, please visit the Dining Services website.

 

     For questions, please contact us:

CatCard Office
Granite Pass Room 171
209-500-6464
catcard@ucmerced.edu
Monday - Friday: 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

 

 

Quotes or data points from student recipients of iCare:

  • 94% of iCare recipients agree that it is easy to use iCare
  • 100% of iCare recipients feel comfortable using iCare
  • “I have been able to eat and make it through the semester without going hungry.”
  • “Since receiving iCare I’m able to stay more focused on my classes and less worried about my next meal.”
  • “I was able to save my money for the materials that I need for school or other things.”

 

Awards received and press releases about iCare: