True Maroon students at 91传媒 pack 10,000 meals to combat world hunger
Contact: Sasha Steinberg
![For the second consecutive year, Mississippi State students鈥攎any of whom are enrolled in True Maroon First-Year Experience courses鈥攙olunteered today [Oct. 30] to pack 10,000 nutritious meals in an effort to combat malnutrition and aid in the worldwide fig](/sites/www.msstate.edu/files/inline-images/Stop_Hunger_Now_2015.jpg "For the second consecutive year, Mississippi State students鈥攎any of whom are enrolled in True Maroon First-Year Experience courses鈥攙olunteered today [Oct. 30] to pack 10,000 nutritious meals in an effort to combat malnutrition and aid in the worldwide fig")
STARKVILLE, Miss.鈥擣or the second consecutive year, Mississippi State students volunteered today [Oct. 30] to pack 10,000 nutritious meals in an effort to combat malnutrition and aid in the worldwide fight against hunger.
Taking place in the university鈥檚 Bost Extension Center, the project was sponsored by 91传媒鈥檚 Center for the Advancement of Service-Learning Excellence in collaboration with the Raleigh, North Carolina-based Stop Hunger Now international hunger relief organization.
聽Meals packed by the students鈥攎any of whom are enrolled in a True Maroon First-Year Experience course鈥攚ill be distributed to those in need around the U.S and abroad.
Weighing between 389-394 grams, each meal bag contains a vitamin packet and combination of dehydrated vegetables, dehydrated soy and rice. According to event organizers, one bag will feed a family of six for one day.
91传媒 President Mark E. Keenum thanked the students for dedicating time to 鈥渆ngage in such a wonderful, worthwhile program that can impact lives.鈥
鈥淓very single year, we have tens of millions of people鈥攎any of whom are young children鈥攚ho perish for one simple reason: they didn鈥檛 get enough food to eat,鈥 Keenum said. 鈥淭here are huge challenges for your generation, and I want all of you to think about your future and how you can be leaders who make a difference and impact the world that you are about to inherit.鈥
Pat Ware, program manager for Stop Hunger Now鈥檚 meal packing location in Jackson, said 25,000 people die every day from hunger and hunger-related illnesses. Every six seconds, a child dies from hunger, he added.
鈥淭hink about how many people fit into your stadium during a home football game. It would only take about four days to fill it up with the amount of people that perish from just not having enough food,鈥 Ware said.
Ware said his organization founded the meal packaging program in 2005 to provide meals to school feeding programs, vocational schools, early childhood education centers, medical clinics and orphanages in high-need areas around the world.
鈥淲hen we provide these meals, parents don鈥檛 have to make the decision of which child to send to school that day,鈥 he said, adding that 鈥渨e鈥檝e seen attendance rates double, triple and even quadruple in some areas.鈥
Charley C. Rhea, a freshman mechanical engineering major from Birmingham, Alabama, participated in the event as part of associate dean and professor of engineering James Warnock鈥檚 True Maroon First-Year Experience course.
鈥淲e were going through this systematically, but when you think about it, that鈥檚 60,000 people we just fed, and it took us not even an hour to do it,鈥 she emphasized.
鈥淚鈥檝e never done anything like this, and it was a fun way to make an impact and help people,鈥 she added, while recalling the sound of students breaking into the 鈥淢aroon and White鈥 chant as they packed meals.
October is World Hunger Action Month. Follow the conversation on Twitter, using hashtag #WHAM2015.
For more information about Stop Hunger Now, visit .
CASLE was launched in early 2013 as a joint venture between 91传媒鈥檚 Office of the Provost and Extension Service. Promoting university ideals of citizenship and service is its primary mission.
More information on CASLE is found at , and .听
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