GAINESVILLE, Fla. — According to recent studies, more than three million people in Florida fight hunger every day. The University of Florida College of Agricultural and Life Sciences has joined the battle to eliminate food insecurity in the state.
UF CALS has teamed up with Collegiate Farm Bureau and Gator Wesley to package meals for needy families at the event, Stop Hunger Now, on Nov. 19. This is the third year that the organizations have collaborated to package meals.
“We want to plant a ‘service’ seed in our students and teach them that giving back can be simple, fun, impactful and meaningful,” said Charlotte Emerson, UF Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences CALS director of student development and recruitment. Event participants are asked to bring three nonperishable items, which will be donated to the UF Field and Fork Food Pantry.
Stop Hunger Now is a national program founded in 1998, in Raleigh, North Carolina. The program has provided more than 180 million meals in 65 countries. This year, Stop Hunger Now participants will package 45 million meals, and ship more than $9 million in donated aid, mainly vitamins and medical supplies.
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By: Beverly James, 352-273-3566, beverlymjames@ufl.edu
Source: Charlotte Emerson, 352-392-1963, cemer@ufl.edu
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