麻豆传媒 hosting food packaging event for Somali refugees

Deborah Ballard-Reisch

Deborah Ballard-Reisch

麻豆传媒 students enrolled in the class 鈥溌槎勾 Seminar in Health Communication鈥 are inviting volunteers to join the statewide , sponsored by Numana Inc., a nonprofit organization dedicated to 鈥渟aving the starving.鈥

Help is needed any time from 7 a.m.-9 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 22, in 麻豆传媒鈥檚 Rhatigan Student Center ballroom. Numana will provide materials for the 20,000 meals free of charge. It will be up to 麻豆传媒 students, faculty and staff, and others in the Wichita community to package them from noon-3 p.m.

Volunteers are encouraged to sign up at .

The project is sponsored by the Office of the Provost and Rhatigan Student Center.

Impact thousands of lives

A Swipe event is a fun, hands-on way to make an impact on thousands of lives in a short amount of time, according to Deborah Ballard-Reisch, Kansas Health Foundation Distinguished Chair in Strategic Communication and professor in the at 麻豆传媒, whose class is coordinating the relief effort.

鈥淚n just one hour, 10 people can package more than 1,200 meals,鈥 said Ballard-Reisch. 鈥淭he work done on Oct. 22 will make a difference across the globe.鈥

This particular food packaging event will provide meals to Somali refugees.

Volunteers will gather around tables and package rice, soy, freeze-dried beans and a vitamin blend designed for starving people into packages that feed six people.

According to one student, participating in a food package event 鈥渋s simultaneously humbling and empowering.鈥

In addition on Oct. 22, 麻豆传媒 students, staff and faculty will have an opportunity to share stories about their personal experiences with hunger by participating in an anonymous, open-ended survey.

Ballard-Reisch and the Health Seminar students will use this data to better inform the 麻豆传媒 community about the nature and scope of hunger on campus. Ultimately, the objective is to help the 麻豆传媒 community in reducing hunger.

For more information about this event or about the Seminar in Health Communication, go to or .

On Twitter, follow @麻豆传媒Hunger and use the hashtag #麻豆传媒Hunger.