The Shadow
CLIFTON FORGE - Dabney S. Lancaster Community College’s Office of Student Activities will conduct a four-month campaign to develop a greater awareness of the issue of hunger.
Activities will involve students and the community, and be led by members of the DSLCC Student Senate.
The campaign will begin on January 16 between 10:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. around a series of scheduled events in observance of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Participants from the community as well as students attending the day’s activities at the college will be asked to bring a can of food to jump start the project.
Student Activities director Cynthia Boteler pointed out that students wanted their plans to be part of the theme of service that permeates many activities held to honor Dr. King. “Citizens are called upon to volunteer to serve their communities in some way and ‘… make a difference’ to acknowledge King’s vision, and participating in activities to address the issue of hunger will be the focus for DSLCC students this year as their response to this call for service to others.”
“Our goal is to show that hunger is not an isolated problem for one small region-this problem is local, state-wide, national and global,” commented Student Senate president Sarah Chase. “We cannot solve the problem but feel called to act in some small way.”
The campaign supports the mission of community colleges. DSLCC’s Statements of Values and Priorities include the importance of serving as role models for others and implementing programs and services that are a “source of pride” for area residents.
“Individuals receive requests to support many worthy causes, and generally select those most meaningful to them on a personal level. We felt that hunger was an issue everyone would support and would want to proudly step up to do their part to help others,” concluded Dr. Richard R. Teaff, DSLCC president.
To further the cause of the local initiative, each time there is a Student Activities event boxes will be available for participants to donate a can of food to local area food pantries. The goal is to collect 2,500 pounds of food over four months from both the college and local communities.
To fulfill the global mission, the Student Senate will start the semester off by holding a pizza fundraiser on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day to start raising money for Stop Hunger Now, a meal packaging program designed predominantly to provide meals to support school feeding programs in schools and orphanages around the world in the most critical areas facing extreme hunger issues.
The students plan on enlisting other college clubs as well as local groups and churches in the community in order to raise the $2,500 required to pay for rice-soy mixture that includes dehydrated vegetables, flavoring and 21 essential vitamins and minerals to make 10,000 food packages. Student, staff, faculty and community volunteers will be recruited to help unload and set up an assembly line as well as provide the 50-person volunteer crew that will package 10,000 meals in an hour during the 2012 Annual DSLCC Spring Picnic. The campaign will last through mid-April.
“We are pleased that our students wanted to implement this project, commented Matt McGraw, Director of Student Services at DSLCC. “If they see the value of their contributions to others, and see the results, they will experience the positive, rewarding feeling of helping others, and develop a lifelong commitment to volunteerism, reaching out into their extended families, communities and places of employment.”
For more information about the events scheduled for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day or the DSLCC Local/Global Hunger Relief Initiative please contact the DSLCC Office of Student Activities at 540-863-2828.
