Canned food drives and fundraising efforts for last week’s Hunger Week accumulated more than 14,000 cans of food and $3,000 for the Tarrant Area Food Bank, Rev. Angela Kaufman, minister to the university, said.
Officials of last week’s 29th annual Hunger Week at TCU said they were pleased with the outcome of the events.
Kaufman said 13,000 of the total number of cans collected were donated from Albertsons alone, to be used in Kanstruction last Monday. Also, the money was raised through the sales of Hunger Week T-shirts and donations received at tables and buckets all around campus over the duration of the week, she said.
For those involved, however, the week was not solely about the numbers, said Rev. Jeremy Albers, associate chaplain of Religious & Spiritual Life Office.
“I’m always amazed to see the different passions of different groups that come to partner with Hunger Week to bring about awareness and to fight hunger both locally and globally,” Albers said.
Rev. Jacob Hofmeister, another associate chaplain, said with the help of Disciples on Campus, Greek Week, the Interfaith Community, TCU Leaps, the athletic department and outside contributors like Albertsons and Ol’ South Pancake House, Hunger Week was a campus-wide event that spread awareness even to the extended Fort Worth community.
Kaufman said Community Involvement and Service Learning hosted the “Sustainability and Social Justice” lecture Thursday night, which featured keynote speaker Robert Egger, founder of the first community kitchen. The presentation attracted many social service workers from the community, she said.
Another audience was attracted during Hunger Week’s sporting events, Kaufman said. Sunday’s baseball game, themed as Kid’s Day, raised awareness for a particularly unique crowd, Kaufman said.
Director of Athletic Marketing Jason Byrne said families from the entire community came to watch TCU’s baseball team.
Game attendees were also educated on local and global hunger issues by visiting education tables set up at the ballpark and watching TCU baseball players talk on the big screen about the efforts Hunger Week was making, he said.
He said TCU Athletics as a whole strived to be more involved in the promotion of the week. A total of five baseball games, as well as the spring football game, made use of their revenue to educate attendees on what Hunger Week was all about and how they could help, Byrne said.
“We’re trying to figure out better ways to cross-promote and help elevate the efforts by so many,” Byrne said. “It’s been a nice opportunity for us…especially anytime we can help promote the goodness being done on campus.”
Albers said he hoped the effects of the events would go beyond just last week.
“While Hunger Week is only one week long, I hope that the activities and events create enough awareness that inspire other people to be advocates in their own community and the world throughout the year, not just one week a year,” he said.
Kaufman said, “Hunger Week is supposed to be an instigating, initiating experience where it gets people thinking about what we spend, what we eat, what other people eat, the resources other people have. It’s part of a life-long effort.”
She said that T-shirts are still being sold for $10, with all proceeds given to Tarrant Area Food Bank, and canned food can still be dropped off until the end of this week. Shirt purchases and food drop-offs can both be made at the Religious & Spiritual Life office in Jarvis Hall.