The sound of a gong rang out through the Lankford Student Union on Wednesday evening, March 7 as groups of volunteers supporting the Stop Hunger Now event packed up another five boxes full of meals to be sent out to families in need. The event quickly turned into a race as volunteers tried to pack as many meals as they could within a two-hour period.
By 7:40 p.m., the volunteers had reached 8,000 meals and just minutes later they passed the 9,000 mark. By 8 p.m., those in attendance had reached a total of 11,000 meals.
Organizing the event fell on the shoulders of Taylor Anderson and Ryan Pereira, members of Theta Chi Fraternity, which sponsored the event. Also sponsoring the event was the Office of Lead- ership and Civic Engagement and Farmville Unit- ed Methodist Church.
The event was broken up into two one-hour shifts so volunteers were not overwhelmed with the amount of work needed to complete the packing. For the first shift, 90 volunteers showed up to help out. Others who arrived were asked to come back for the second shift of the evening to assist.
The event was a large improvement from last year when it was originally held during the day around lunchtime. Only 15 people attended the event, making it much more difficult for Theta Chi to reach its goal. This year the sponsors decided to combine their funding to reach a meal goal of 22,000 as opposed to the 10,000 they were able to afford before. Jen Rentschler, assistant director for the Office of Leadership and Civic Engagement, said they "liked doing this when it wasn't com- peting with other events" in contributing to the success of this year's turnout.
The headquarters for Stop Hunger Now is in Raleigh, N.C., but the international hunger relief organization has various locations all over the United States and provides an opportunity for volunteers to package highly nutritious meals for schools and orphanages in developing countries all over the world.
The organization was created in 1988 by coordinating the distribution of food to various developing countries. In 2005, it created its meal packaging program and perfected the assembly line packaging system they use to package their meals. Since 2005, the organization has packed and shipped 62 million meals all over the world.
Tray Light, one of the Stop Hunger Now rep- resentatives from the Lynchburg, Va. office, explained how the group's mission is to end world hunger while providing an education to the families. "We try to send meals to schools regularly because if parents know there is food at school for their children, they are more likely to send their child there," said Light.
Pereira spoke of his fraternity's interest to help with the event. "This is something all of the guys are enthusiastic about, and it shows we're more than just a fraternity. It builds a lot of pride for group." Pereira continued to say how the assembly line begins to turn into more and more of a competition for the group's volunteers helping out.
When asked about what she thought of the event, freshman Jaime Whitesel said, "I love it. I did something similar to this last summer, and I wish they would do it more often here."
Amber Patrick, another freshman helping the cause, said, "I like this because it's not just students; it's everyone from the community too."
SGA Senator Sarah Sharp, who was also present among the assembly line set up in the ballroom, said, "We appreciate all the students who come out for the event. We hope to have more of these in the future, and we hope to have even more student involvement."
The meals from the March 7 event were shipped from the Lynchburg warehouse. Stop Hunger Now's in-country partner, LeSea Global Feed the Hungry, will receive the meals in Uganda.
For more information on Stop Hunger Now, vis- it www.stophungernow.org or its Facebook page at www.facebook.com/stophungernow.
Students diligently pack bags full of meals during the Stop Hunger Now event in the Lankford Student Union.
