Declan’s Place was created to honor the memory of Declan Katz. Its goal is to provide food assistance — with dignity — to college students facing food security.
For those who never met Declan, please know that he was a truly special person: kind, with empathy that was off the charts, and an infectious laugh that made everyone who heard it smile. His empathy was evident early on, from asking for book donations instead of gifts for his birthday to making meals to deliver to the unhoused, he displayed care and wisdom far beyond his years.
He had a tremendous work ethic, beginning his chosen career at a very young age even though he didn’t need to. Much of what he earned he gave to others. He believed that helping people was a moral imperative and spent much of his time in service of others.
Declan was a fiercely independent and proud young man. Nothing captures that more than his final year of college. After failing grades meant he wouldn’t graduate on schedule, he refused to ask his parents to keep funding his education and insisted on working to pay his own tuition instead.
Declan lived with Type 1 diabetes, and he managed it with the same quiet, determined, independent way he approached everything else. Sadly, complications from the disease took his life far too soon. But his memory, and his mission, live on through Swipe Out Hunger’s creation of Declan’s Place. This special Swipe Grants designation will be offered to higher education institutions with hospitality programs in celebration of Declan’s dedication to others.
Declan understood that one of the hardest things in this world is to ask for help and accept it, even when you need it most. That’s why this initiative is named Declan’s Place. We want it to feel like just another place a student can go — not somewhere that singles anyone out as a person in need. Food assistance should be offered with the same respect and warmth Declan offered everyone he met.
To support the mission of Declan’s Place or to honor his memory, we urge you to donate.
