Collegiate Times

Hundreds of volunteers gathered in Squires Student Center Saturday to package meals to send to Haiti.

Almost nine months ago, Haiti was devastated by an earthquake that left thousands of citizens homeless and without food and water.

More than 2,000 Virginia Tech students, faculty and community members packaged meals that will be sent to feed school children in Haiti. Each package contains rice, soy protein, dehydrated vegetables and a vitamin flavoring packet. More than 285,000 meals were produced.

Student volunteers with VT-Engage began setting up the event at 7 a.m. on Saturday before the shifts of volunteers arrived.

About 700 people showed up to help with the first shift, which began at 10 a.m.

Groups of volunteers filled packets with food and then sent them to a table to be weighed. After that, the packets were tossed to volunteers standing by to load them into boxes. The boxes were placed in a storage container and sent to Norfolk. From there, they will be sent directly to Haiti to feed those in need.

“This event is excellent to demonstrate that college students care and want a challenge,” said Ray Buchanan, founder and president of Stop Hunger Now.

The nonprofit organization partnered with VT-Engage to coordinate the event.

“University students need to take the lead to end hunger,” Buchanan said. “When we work together, we can do amazing things.”

Stop Hunger Now has taken its project to several colleges across the country.

“In collaboration with North Carolina State, the University of North Carolina, and the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, Tech will put the total meals packaged to over a million,” said Troy Henson, Stop Hunger Now’s program manager.

On Saturday, members of various student organizations volunteered their time. Galileo, the Resident Leadership Community and Greeks Giving Back were among the groups that sent volunteers.

“I wanted to help out a good cause,” said Amber Castle, a freshman member of Hypatia. “I think it’s a good idea to have an event like this in the fall.”

“This is a good event to get students involved to help the rest of the world,” said Sean Dunn, a junior member of Theta Xi.

Blacksburg United Methodist Church and Blacksburg Presbyterian Church raised funds to support the purchase of the food that was packaged.

Phil Courey, a community volunteer with Tech’s Center for Student Engagement and Community Partnerships, helped organize the event.

“People should be involved with service projects throughout the year, not only in the spring,” Courey said. “The idea is that the fall day of service will become an annual event.”

A version of this article appeared in the Oct 5 issue of the Collegiate Times.