Buckhannon — One hundred thirty-two West Virginia Wesleyan College students lived out Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s dream by creating equal access to food for those in need by packaging over 10,000 meals. The January 21 event was coordinated by Wesleyan’s Center for Community Engagement.

Wesleyan Service Scholars, members of Alpha Xi Delta sorority, Chi Phi and Theta Chi fraternities, and athletes from the track and football programs participated in the event. Rise Against Hunger is an international hunger relief organization with a goal to end hunger by 2030. The meals are designed to provide a comprehensive array of micronutrients and include enriched rice, soy protein, dried vegetables, and 20 essential vitamins and nutrients. One in three people worldwide are adversely affected by vitamin and mineral deficiencies.

Rise Against Hunger meals are provided in schools to encourage increased enrollment and attendance. For adults in community empowerment programs, the provision of meals offsets productive time lost while attending training sessions. Meals distributed in hospitals and clinics support patients’ nutritional needs and complement their treatments.
The Rise Against Hunger event was aimed at world hunger, but Wesleyan students are taking action locally, too.

Prior to February 2, Super Bowl Sunday, students from the WE LEAD Poverty Reduction team and the Buckhannon Volunteer Center are working to challenge groups on campus and in the Upshur County community to compete in a SOUP-er Bowl Sunday collection event.

Groups can collect canned soup and other non-perishable items to be donated to the Upshur County Parish House. The group which donates the most items will receive a pizza party or a donation to their philanthropy of choice. Groups can drop off items to the Center for Community Engagement on the second floor of the Benedum Campus Center or the Buckhannon Volunteer Center at City Hall.

“Projects such as Rise Against Hunger and SOUP-er Bowl provide our students with the opportunity to become more knowledgeable about poverty, hunger, and economic issues throughout the world,” said Jessica Vincent ’12, director of the Center for Community Engagement. “Our students are constantly searching for ways to empower change and impact the local community and beyond.”