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K-State Today

October 12, 2012

Swipe Out Hunger: K-State Olathe to package 20,000 meals Saturday

Submitted by Kristi Northcutt

2011 Swipe Out Hunger Event

The Kansas State University Olathe community will help swipe out hunger by participating in on-campus events from 8 a.m. to noon Saturday at the K-State Olathe loading dock. 

Numana Swipe Out Hunger, a food-packaging event, will involve more than 175 volunteers from schools, industry and the community. More than 17,000 meals were packaged at the event last October at K-State Olathe. Statewide, 16 college campuses featured Swipe events that used the help of more than 4,300 volunteers and produced 597,424 packaged meals that were sent to famine victims in the Horn of Africa. The goal this year at K-State Olathe is 20,000 meals.

The packaged meals consist of rice, soy protein, freeze-dried pinto beans, and 21 vitamins and minerals targeted to help the immune system of malnourished people. During the event, these ingredients are measured into bags, sealed, boxed and prepared for shipment. The cost of each life-sustaining meal is only 25 cents. This includes all ingredients, packaging, administration and international shipping of the container.

Director of K-12 science education partnerships, Micheal Strohschein, has been working with the Johnson County school districts to create student and teacher teams, as well as coordinating a quarter challenge.

"One quarter provides a nutritious and life-saving meal," Strohschein said. "It's hard for us, and for our children, to imagine such a statistic when so many of us take for granted that our next meal will be readily available."

In addition to the schools, industry and community volunteers, HyVee is partnering with K-State Olathe for the event, providing T-shirts and volunteers to help package the meals.

K-State and the Manhattan community are working with Numana to host an event to package 100,000 meals on Oct. 28 at the National Guard Armory in Manhattan. All of the food packaged will be sent through the Salvation Army World Service Office to the Horn of Africa to assist in the famine.