Carnegie Mellon University
November 22, 2016

CMU Packs 125,000 Meals in 90 Minutes To Fight Hidden Hunger

By Julianne Mattera / 412-268-2902 / jmattera@cmu.edu


It took only 90 minutes.

But in that time this past Saturday, more than 560 volunteers packaged 125,000 dehydrated meals for the global hunger-relief agency Stop Hunger Now.

Carnegie Mellon University partnered with The Kraft Heinz Company for the second consecutive year to put on the fun, high-energy service event. While upbeat pop music pumped through the Cohon University Center's Wiegand Gym, students, staff, faculty and families worked together to package meals in assembly-line style. Meanwhile, mascots from CMU and Kraft Heinz danced in the aisles.

James Crnkovich, one of the event organizers with Partners Allied in Civic Engagement (PACE), which co-sponsored the event with the co-ed service fraternity Alpha Phi Omega, called the event inspiring.

"It's a real celebration of how cohesive Carnegie Mellon's community can be. You have such a wide, eclectic range of community members," Crnkovich said. "It's this tremendous outpouring of support."

Elizabeth Vaughan, director of CMU's Office of Student Leadership, Involvement, and Civic Engagement (SLICE), said the event was an important opportunity to "tangibly address hidden hunger." According to the World Food Programme, nearly 800 million people around the world - or one in nine - suffer from chronic hunger, and more than 3 million children die from malnutrition every year.

"To us that's just unimaginable," Vaughan said. "We have the opportunity as Carnegie Mellon students, faculty and staff and our families to package meals that are going to address that hunger and to help make sure that someone is getting a fully nutritious meal."

Stop Hunger Now 2016

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