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University of North Carolina Athletics
Tar Heel Soccer Programs Volunteer For Hunger Program
May 18, 2014 | Men's Soccer, Women's Soccer, Carolina Outreach
CHAPEL
HILL, N.C. - The University of North Carolina men's and women's soccer
teams recently teamed up with Stop Hunger Now to help fight worldwide hunger.
The two programs came together and packaged 10,000 meals to be shipped around
the world for those in need and support the organization's vision of "a world
without hunger."
The UNC student-athletes took on various roles among a chain of duties to
package the meals. Each meal consists of rice, soy protein, dried vegetables,
and 21 essential vitamins and minerals.
From assembling the meal, weighing and sealing, boxing, and loading, it was a team effort from both the soccer teams.
Rob Lovejoy of men's soccer reflected on the experience, "The Stop the Hunger Event was a humbling, valuable experience that showed us the importance of being grateful for all we have. It was a great feeling to go to bed that night knowing we helped make the world a better place."
Women's soccer player Brooke Elby added, "This was a great experience in not only teaching us to be thankful for all that we have and may take for granted, but also in opening our eyes to the world beyond ours where hunger is an everyday occurrence."
Former
UNC soccer standout and assistant coach Geoff Griffin (Class of '76) serves on
the board of Stop Hunger Now and passionately had this to say, "I was so proud to be part of the event and appreciate
that both teams enthusiastically supported one of my passions. Stop Hunger Now
is all about building community here and around the world. At our meal-packaging
events, people have fun, make friends and save lives."
Stop Hunger Now provides
over 70 percent of its meals to support transformational development programs
such as school feeding programs, vocational training programs, early childhood
development programs, orphanages, and medical clinics. Working with these
programs helps enhance lives by giving beneficiaries the opportunity to break
the cycle of poverty through education, skills development, and health care
while also receiving much needed nutrition. Stop Hunger Now's goal is to
allocate 80 percent of its meals to transformational development programs by
2015.
Every year, Stop Hunger Now reserves 10 percent of its projected meals to respond right away to crisis situations including natural disasters, conflict and famine. In addition to providing food for crisis relief, Stop Hunger also works to meet the immediate needs of those suffering from hunger. For more information on the organization or how to participate in a meal packaging event, visit: www.stophungernow.org.
