Two hundred and sixty seven (267) Southwestern College students gathered Sunday,
Oct. 7, to package and deliver 1,000 bags of food for the Homecoming Hunger
Project. The event was hosted by the service learning organizations at
Southwestern, which include Leadership, Discipleship, and Green Team. Students
from all athletic teams, student life, student government, performing arts, and
the service learning teams were in attendance.
“I
am extremely excited about this service effort on campus. It is rare that
a college is able to rally so many students, faculty, and staff to be a part of
service work together,” says Lindsay Wilke, assistant director of Leadership.
The
packaged food will be used as supplements for the “Backpacks for Kids” program
at USD 465, which works with the Kansas Food Bank to provide food for the
weekends to children who have been identified as food insecure. There are
currently 81 children in the program and SC’s donation will supply all 81 with
food for three months worth of weekends. The bags of food also included a
hand written letter from a college student as encouragement to the children who
will be receiving them.
“It
is just a phenomenal project that will support students that are in need of
nutritional resources,” says USD 465 Superintendent J.K. Campbell. “It
was overwhelming to see the college students to marching the bags and boxes of
food. The impact this will have on those students and their ability to do
well in school will be good because now they don’t have to worry about
food. And I know the SC students will never see the outcome of this
event. I am so appreciative that they spent a Sunday afternoon to pack and
deliver all of this food.”
Funding
for the event was provided by a donation from Steve and Cathy Hamlin and a
contribution from each department participating. A total of
$4,520 was raised for the project. SC staff and faculty provided plastic bags
for the event.
“The
Southwestern students have proven that they care about the issue of hunger and
are willing to act on their convictions. And by contributing funding and
support to the event, the institution as a whole is living out its commitment
to service,” said Wilke.
“I know the Kansas Food Bank will be so appreciative because they have been responsible to provide this,” Campbell says. “They are always looking for partners because there is such a huge need here and across the state.”
“I know the Kansas Food Bank will be so appreciative because they have been responsible to provide this,” Campbell says. “They are always looking for partners because there is such a huge need here and across the state.”
The
event was held from 3 to 4 p.m., and ended with all 300+ students and staff members marching down Warren St. to deliver the food to USD 465 Superintendent J.K. Campbell and Winfield High School
food service director Robyn Bailey at Winfield High School.
