Mars Hill University schedules Hunger Awareness Week Nov. 10-17

Press release from Mars Hill University:

Mars Hill University students are working to make a dent in problem of hunger in Madison County, western North Carolina, and the world. They’re holding the annual Hunger Awareness Week from November 10-17, 2018, collecting food and funds for organizations that work to prevent hunger. Besides events specifically targeted to the university community, there are several opportunities for the general public to get involved.

Veronica O’Dette, a social work major from Candler, North Carolina, is heading up this year’s project. It’s her third year being involved with Hunger Awareness week–first as a participant in some of the events; then as co-leader last year; and now, as a junior Bonner Scholar, leading the committee of students that plan and organize the week’s events.

“It’s definitely opened my eyes,” O’Dette said. “I wasn’t really aware of how bad hunger is in rural communities and the other problems that are associated with communities experiencing widespread hunger.”

Most of the Hunger Awareness Week events benefit Neighbors in Need Crisis Center, a nonprofit which provides food, heating assistance, and other aid to people in Madison County. Last year’s project resulted in more than 3,000 pounds of food donated to Neighbors in Need. 

One event this year will help the university’s partner in Haiti, Esperance et Vie, which runs a food ministry in Terrier Rouge. Each year during spring break, a team of Mars Hill students travels to Haiti to work with the organization. O’Dette was part of the trip this past spring. 

“That made me really conscious of what I’m wasting,” she said. “How I’m using resources that are available to me, and how those resources aren’t available, not only to people in developing countries, but to rural areas here in the U.S.” 

Father Jean Monique Bruno, the Episcopal priest who heads Esperance et Vie, will speak at a chili cook-off on Tuesday, November 13, which will raise funds for the ministry.

Here is the complete schedule of Hunger Awareness Week events:

• Saturday, November 10, 10 a.m.: Students will distribute bags to Mars Hill town residents, inviting them to participate in the Lions Against Hunger food drive.
• Monday, November 12, 5 p.m.: Oxfam Banquet and hunger and poverty simulation in Redway Dining Room of Pittman Dining Hall.
  
• Tuesday, November 13, 5 p.m.: Chili Cook-off in Bentley Fellowship Hall, benefiting Esperance et Vie ministry of Haiti.
  
• Wednesday, November 14, 6 p.m.: Screening and discussion of the documentary, “The Line: Poverty In America,” in Timberline room of Wren Student Union.
  
• Thursday, November 15, 5-7 p.m.: Students will hold a service night at Beacon of Hope ministry in Marshall.
  
• Saturday, November 17, 10 a.m.: Students will return to homes in Mars Hill at which they dropped off bags, to pick up donated food for the Lions Against Hunger food drive.
  
• Throughout the week: Project Clean Plate gives students an awareness of the amount of food they waste on a daily basis. Students will work with Chartwells food service staff to measure the amount of food that diners in the dining hall waste during the week before Hunger Awareness Week, and then will compare it with the amount thrown away during the awareness week, when the focus is on minimizing food waste.

Hunger Awareness Week is a project of the Bonner Scholars program through Mars Hill University’s Center for Community Engagement.

For more information, contact Mike Thornhill at 828-689-1298 or mthornhill@mhu.edu.