North Carolina Campus Compact kicked off our 10th YearAnniversary November 12th at the Student Conference hosted by Wake Forest University. It was an exciting day as hundreds of college students from across the state came together to dialogue with each other and enhance their civic engagement and leadership skills.
Adding to this excitement was the revelation of North Carolina Campus Compact’s Statewide Challenge to End Hunger! It was revealed to the campuses that the Statewide Challenge would provide an opportunity to share each campus’ efforts and demonstrate the impact we are making together to alleviate food insecurity.For the first time, through this challenge, we will demonstrate the significant impact our campuses can make when we together pursue a common goal.
Mr. Clyde Fitzgerald, executive director of the Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest North Carolina addressed the conference attendees expressing the incredible need for action to combat the issue ofhunger in North Carolina.
A few of the overwhelming facts about hunger in North Carolina that Mr. Fitzgeraled described were:
· Emergency foodbanks, pantries and soup kitchens report they’ve seen more requests fromexisting clients and first-timers, people who still have jobs and for children.
· More than 1 outof 4 children is food insecure in North Carolina, with our state 11th in the nation for hungriest children.
· There has been a 46% increase nationally in the number of people seeking emergency food assistance.
A focus on food insecurity for Campus Compact in this Statewide Challenge is a continuation of the great work already begun by our campuses! Over the past two years, our VISTA Program’s statewide initiative has been to work with campuses and communities to alleviate food insecurity, one of our state and nation’s greatest challenges. We have seen substantial progress toward this goal as member campuses work with community gardens, foodbanks and distributions centers, food recovery programs, and competitions tocollect donated food.
The Statewide Challenge officially began on November 12, 2011 and will end March 22, 2012. Over the next few months, campuses have been asked to frequently share their new or enhanced efforts for projects impacting this issue of food insecurity. Campuses have been invited to select two or more of the Challenge’s outcomes as their campus’ goals including: Pounds of food items collected, number of food items donated, number of meals created orserved, number of volunteer hours targeting food insecurity initiatives and dollars raised to help alleviate food insecurity. We look forward to seeing what great outcomes are accomplished through this challenge!
What an amazing way to celebrate an anniversary…