Hungry to help feed Valley
Posted on March 20, 2008
The Psychology Peer Advising Group wants to rid the world of hunger one dollar at a time.
Members are hosting the fifth annual Food Fight Against Hunger on campus to collect nonperishable food items and money to donate to the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank and the international Mercy Corps.
“Last year, we raised $2,000 in two days, and 1,200 pounds of food,” senior organizer Jesse Tarr said. “We hope that it goes up this year. Our lowest goal is 1,500 pounds, but we really hope it’s even higher.
Students will collect donations Thursday and Friday on the Commons from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., and at Festival from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. They will also collect at off-campus locations, such as at grocery stores, to involve the wider community.
The Food Fight program began five years ago when the advising group began discussing ways to help the community.
“The students have so much energy,” said Dr. Bill Evans the group’s advisor. “They have a natural inclination to want to serve. They just want to do more.”
Junior event organizer Evan Witt said that service is one of the Psychology Peer Advisor’s core values.
“We pride ourselves on helping the school and the community,” he said.
Through the help of other sponsors associated with the two relief organizations, each dollar equals an average of $22 in aid.
All non perishable items that the Peer Advising Group receives are given directly to the Food Bank. Monetary donations are split evenly between the Food Bank and Mercy Corps.
The Food Bank serves the surrounding counties from its Verona, Va., headquarters. It operates on a grocery store system where customers must demonstrate need to receive the free services, according to Evans. Food donations then re-stock the shelves, as well as help with other programs.
“When we drive the food to the bank with the donations, we have a caravan of cars with the trunks dragging on the ground,” Tarr said. “But this gives you a good feeling.”
More than 115,000 people in the service area live at or below the poverty level and struggle with food insecurity according to its Web site.
“Hunger is a bigger problem than most people realize,” Evans said. “A lot of times we lose perspective on how well we have it in the world and our society. This has grown into a more deliberate effort to raise money and to raise awareness.”
Mercy Corps ensures that more than 90 percent of its donations go directly toward aid across the world, rather than to administrative costs, according to Evans.
“It’s tremendous that we can guarantee more money goes to the people that need it,” he said.
Though many groups collect donations for different organizations throughout the year, Tarr said that does not deter their mission.
“It’s a good competition because the more effort people put in, the closer we get to solving the problem,” Tarr said.
Evans hopes the program will one day move beyond JMU and become a competition between colleges. Last year, Virginia Tech participated in the program, but did not continue.
The advisers also solicit donations from area businesses and grocery stores. They usually give gift cards that are then used to purchase food items.
“I wish, and know, we could do more, but for whatever reason people don’t give,” Evans said. “We have great potential if people could realize what a huge need there is.”
