Four residents from a local shelter dined at Couch Restaurants Sunday thanks to efforts from a new student organization.

OU Eat-ins, created by Oklahoma Students for a Democratic Society, is a new organization that pairs students who have extra meal exchanges with people from Food and Shelter for Friends, a local food shelter. The first event was Sunday evening.

Approximately 20 students attended. Students were members of SDS or members of a Facebook group, OU Eat-ins, dedicated to finding students wanting to help.

“We were really nervous,” said Elizabeth Rucker, international studies and interdisciplinary perspectives on the environment sophomore. “We were like, ‘Oh, my gosh, if no one shows up this will be really embarrassing.’”

Rucker is a member of SDS and helped coordinate the event by acting as a liaison between the different groups involved, she said. Groups included SDS, Food and Shelter for Friends and Food Not Bombs, an organization that makes healthy vegetarian meals from donated meals.

Noell Figueroa, early childhood sophomore, said the eat-in was a good opportunity to donate to the needy.

“It’s not what I expected,” Figueroa said. “The people are very open, social and appreciative.”

Figueroa said she usually has meals left over at the end of the week and sometimes gives them to upperclassmen without meal plans. She donated a meal to her guest, Laura Balster.

Balster said the experience was positive and had good things to say about the students.

“The students are very pleasant, very intelligent,” Balster said.

Stipulations for the event included students having to be there to run their Sooner One card for their guest and to stay and eat with their guest, Dave Annis, Housing and Food Services director, said in a Facebook post on the group wall.

“We provide students with meal plans and the ability to bring guests,” Annis said. “Deciding to use meals and guest privileges for this program is a wonderful idea.”

Sheila Hoang, visual communications sophomore, donated one of her meals to a member of SDS so they could eat with the Eat-ins group. Because she is a residential adviser in Couch Tower, she said she has 150 meals each semester and would donate each week if the group continued.

“I don’t really know if I have meals left over because I have a block plan,” Hoang said. “But I just want to help people out.”