Too many mouths to feed and too little food is a problem America's Second Harvest of the Big Bend is facing this summer, but Monday the food bank found helping hands, as college students from across the nation put down their textbooks and picked up canned goods.
By the looks of things, it seems there's plenty of food to go around, but that's not the case at America's Second Harvest of the Big Bend, since there are more mouths to feed. Executive director Cindy Wagner says this area tops poverty charts, with 36 percent of children going hungry, a problem some college students are tackling.
They're leaders of a non-profit organization called Break-Away. Rather than spend their spring breaks at resorts, these students answer cries for help, and this week a select few are learning how to lead the program while feeding the poor.
“I think it's an issue people know about on the surface, but don't know how it affects everyone, not just those extremely poor,” says Louisa Warren, a volunteer.
“We started doing research and found it affected children, working populations and elderly, so we're working in these organizations to learn how hunger affects different communities,” Brooke Smith says.
It's a life lesson taught in the field rather than textbooks. A lesson these students are hoping to ace.
Break Away and Oxfam are hosting a hunger banquet Monday evening on FSU's campus. Attendees will get a first-hand look at how hunger crosses all socio-economic boundaries.
