The Lock Haven Outreach for Humanity Club sponsored the 2023 Hunger Bowl. For the entire month of October, a competition between faculty groups, staff groups, and student clubs or organizations competed with one another to collect the most non-perishable food items that will benefit the Haven Cupboard.
The winners of student groups were Smith Hall in first place, collecting 525 donations. Second place was Fairview Suites, collecting 420 donations. The winners of the faculty group were team “No Limits” and collected 3,241 donations.
“Since 2018, this was a record year. Groups across campus collected 5,952 items,” said Chrissy Wise, Assistant Director of Community Service.
“Not only is Hunger Bowl a valuable campus wide community service project, but it’s also a leadership opportunity for students and clubs or groups. When students form a Hunger Bowl team and implement their own ‘mini food drive’ to compete against other teams, they learn valuable life skills such as leadership, communication, event planning, teamwork, empathy, and the power of collective action. Equally as important, students who volunteer or contribute to the Hunger Bowl often find a sense of fulfillment and satisfaction in knowing that they have played a role in fighting food insecurity on campus.”
“Initially, [Hunger Bowl] was a program that donated food to local food banks,” said Amy Downes, Associate Vice President for Student Success and Campus Life. “The food banks would be considered an off-campus resource for Lock Haven students; however, many students were not using this resource even if they were eligible. The first year that The Haven Cupboard opened, all the donations received from the Hunger Bowl were split between the community and campus. However, as The Haven Cupboard expanded all the donations are now directly donated to them.”
If students want to participate in the next Hunger Bowl, they may contact Chrissy Wise cwise@commonwealthu.edu and Amy Downes abd350@commonwealthu.edu. To stay updated on community service events here at Lock Haven follow @lhuvolunteers. To stay updated on the Haven Cupboard follow their Instagram @havencupboard.
Breanna Chicas is a freshman at Lockhaven University. She is a first-year Media and Journalism major. This is her first year working on the Eagle Eye staff. As a writer for the Eagle Eye, Breanna has set two goals for this year: find her voice as a writer and take on writing assignments that push her out of her comfort zone. When she’s not writing, Breanna can be found chilling with her dogs, taking on some sort of crafting project, or working as a server. Breanna hopes to continue to learn about the media and journalism world and find ways to incorporate her own flare into her assignments and projects.
