David Butter

Age: 22

Hometown: Miami, FL

Year: Senior

Major (s): Political Science & Sociology

Awaking the scholar within.

While touring the Second Harvest Food Bank his freshman year, Service Scholar senior David Butter found an organization that lined up directly with his interests and passion for food and became a part of its cause.

Butter got his start with Service Scholars, a four-year comprehensive curriculum program targeted towards incoming freshmen which promotes civic responsibility, and credits them for a lot of his growth.

“It brought me a new sense of respect for people who are in the nonprofit sector and are social change agents because it’s hard to get people outside of their comfort zones, and to adapt to new things,” he said. “People who can create social movement are very impressive to me.”

Balancing school his first semester, with the required 45 hours of community service, was one of the most challenging experiences in the program, Butter recalls, especially since 36 of those hours had to be in different service areas.

“I didn't have a car so it was very hard for me to find a place to volunteer that was convenient for me,” he said.

Initially having worked with the FSU Food Pantry, Butter began volunteering at the Second Harvest Food Bank soon after. There, he would sort cans, work in the warehouse, and file papers.

After noticing a student at the Food Bank that he had just been in class with, Butter had an eye-opening experience that defined the purpose behind his years of service in college.

He said, “That’s when I understood that hunger and homelessness doesn’t look like your stereotypical guy with rags asking for money on the street – hunger and homelessness looks like everyone.”

Currently serving as an ambassador and the community outreach contact at the Food Bank, Butter’s service positions has evolved throughout the program, where he says he is playing a bigger role. “I am scheduling, training, and recruiting major student groups on campus,” he said. “The impact of having just one of me in comparison to new and more people is big.”

Passionate about alleviating the issue of food insecurity on college campuses, Butter said, “I feel that if we added this measurement of food security into the FAFSA, an application that all college students already have to fill out as a simple yes/no question, it would be useful data to hand to campus administration to know how many of its students are starving.”

The Service Scholars program has greatly influenced Butter’s plans for service post graduation. “My main area of service will be having to do with distributing to people in the community,” Butter said, “...being immersed in the non-profit culture gave me a sense of understanding the struggles of a nonprofit and how their missions are set up differently than other businesses.”

After graduating this May, Butter is returning home to attend Florida International University College of Law for its Pro Bono program to serve as legal counsel for people who suffer from employment discrimination.

Butter also wants to volunteer with an agency similar to the Second Harvest Food Bank, while in Miami in an administrative role that manages philanthropy or fundraising events.