SIFE – Lets can hunger challenge

Renee Chiaverini reported to the local St. Augustine news desk that the Flagler College Students in Free Enterprise team will be participating in and hosting a “Let’s Can Hunger Challenge” on Friday, March 5th.

The purpose and challenge of the event that is being held in the parking lot of the Hamblen True Value Hardware Store, 111 King St, is to build hunger awareness in the community.

The event will be an addition to the First Friday Art Walk in downtown St. Augustine. The Art Walk begins at 5 p.m. and concludes at 8 p.m.

Local elementary through high school students have been participating in this event by holding canned food drives at their schools to collect food for urgent hunger relief.

In addition, students and local artists within the community were asked to paint their representations of hunger on 4-foot-by-4-foot sections of wall. The sections will be collected and displayed as a whole during the art walk as a unique way to raise hunger awareness within the community.

“We hope the community will support our food and fund drive by bringing a sturdy bag containing non-perishable foods such as canned soup, canned vegetables, pasta, rice and cereal to the Friday night event,” said Priscilla Proctor, Coordinator of College and Public Relations. “The canned foods will be placed at the base of the wall to represent the lives lost to hunger, and the wall will serve as a memorial.”

The collected cans of food will be distributed to The St. Francis House and local Catholic charities.

The “Let’s Can Hunger Challenge,” sponsored by the Campbell Soup Company, is an initiative that provides Students in Free Enterprise teams across four countries with the opportunity to participate in a series of objectives including urgent hunger relief, lasting hunger relief and hunger awareness.

“Considering that the World Health Organization estimates that close to 1 billion people do not know where their next meal will come from, coupled with our current economic climate, it’s more important than ever to lend a helping hand to our neighbors as well as empower low-income citizens to break the cycle of hunger,” said Jessica Welch, president of Flagler College Students in Free Enterprise.

For more information on this event, please contact Jessica Welch at (904) 669-5715 or Jesse Quick at (850) 974-9548.

Students in Free Enterprise is an international non-profit organization that works with leaders in business and higher education to mobilize university students to make a difference in their communities while developing the skills to become socially responsible business leaders. Students in Free Enterprise teams are active on more than 1,300 campuses of academic institutions in 41 countries.