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STOP HUNGER NOW: NEWS RELEASE
Volunteers
will package a million meals for Stop Hunger Now
More than 4,000
volunteers from area universities and colleges will join forces in late August
to break the record they set last year by packaging 1 million meals for Stop
Hunger Now, a Raleigh-based international hunger relief organization that
coordinates the distribution of food and other life-saving aid around the
world.
Last year, volunteers from North Carolina State
University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, East Carolina
University, Duke University, North Carolina Central University, Peace College, and
University of North Carolina at Wilmington packaged a record-breaking 1,031,776
meals during the University Million Meal Week.
This year, four North Carolina universities will host
University Million Meal Event. Each site
will have its own packaging event where students and community volunteers work
side by side in assembly lines to package meals. The
week-long event begins at NCSU on August 21 and concludes at UNC-CH, ECU on August 28 and UNCW on November 13th.
More than half of the meals packaged will be
distributed to earthquake victims in Haiti. “Stop Hunger Now is committed to
providing aid to those in Haiti after the current crisis stops making
headlines,” said Ray Buchanan, president and founder of Stop Hunger Now. “The
resounding success of UMMW in the past two years assures us we can do it
again. The scale of this event draws
much needed attention to the war against hunger and provides life-saving meals
to the world’s most destitute,” said Ray Buchanan.
Stop Hunger Now’s
highly nutritious meals include rice, soy, dehydrated vegetables and a
vitamin-fortified flavoring mix with 21 essential vitamins and minerals. Each meal costs 25 cents to make. Stop Hunger Now provides the ingredients with
funds from sponsors, contributors and student donations.
“Our goal is to raise
$250,000 to cover the cost of food and packaging materials for this huge
event,” said Rod Brooks, CEO of Stop Hunger Now. “We are actively seeking support.”
Churches, civic organizations, schools, businesses or
individuals interested in helping to package meals or donating to the
University Million Meals event should contact Stop Hunger Now at (888) 501-8440
or info@stophungernow.org.
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