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K-State Today

August 28, 2012

K-State Olathe taking a swipe at hunger to help famine victims; community volunteers needed for food-packaging event

Submitted by Communications and Marketing

Numana Swipe-Out Hunger, a food-packaging event for the Horn of Africa, will be 8 a.m. to noon Oct. 13 at Kansas State University Olathe, 22201 W. Innovation Drive.

The event requires more than 100 volunteers from schools, industry and the community. During the 2011 event at K-State Olathe, more than 17,000 meals were packaged. Statewide, 16 Kansas 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.

Director of K-12 Science Education Partnerships, Micheal Strohschein, is working with the Johnson County school districts to create student and teacher teams, as well as coordinating a quarter challenge in the schools.

"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."

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.

The quarter challenge, new to the event this year, pits all student school and adult teams in a quarter war to see who can get the most quarters donated to purchase the meals. The challenge runs from Sept. 1 to Oct. 6.

The quarter challenge should be organized by a registered food-packaging event team, but teams are encouraged to include other students or employees in their schools or businesses to participate.

To register teams and get started on the quarter challenge, visit the Numana page on K-State Olathe's website at http://olathe.k-state.edu/k-12/numana-swipe.html. For more information, contact Strohschein at 913-307-7342 or mistroh@k-state.edu.

Kansas State University Olathe advances the mission of Kansas State University by integrating education, research and entrepreneurship focused on animal health, food safety and security.

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