Committee of 19
After being elected by the World Food Programme to establish a student led War on Hunger campaign, Auburn created the Committee of 19. This committee is completely student run and it seeks to address different issues concerning world hunger and malnutrition. The group’s name comes from the idea that it takes 19 cents per day for the Programme to feed one hungry child.
Although this program was only established in 2004, it has already had great success. The committee’s main goal is to raise awareness, educate students, and contribute to fundraising. Since the beginning, its campaign has raised more than $19,000 and donated more than 400,000 cans to countries across the world. Each college on Auburn University’s campus has its own sub-committee that seeks to educate students enrolled in its college. Weekly meetings are held, along with events such as a game day tailgate. Hunger Week is a week long campaign that includes activities of all kinds to help raise money. The week began with the Stop Hunger Now truck, which is a faith based organization that travels to different campuses and bags food for the needy. The goal for Hunger Week is to bag at least 100,000 bags.
Now, Auburn is inviting other schools to participate in the War on Hunger campaign. They will be holding the first War on Hunger Summit very soon. To date, more than 25 schools have agreed to participate. The Dean of the College of Human Sciences, June Henton, will be speaking on how universities can contribute to this fight. Henton states, “Hunger is not about an inadequate food supply, but about social inequities, conflict and war, political issues, and other factors that prevent people from having access to food. For American students, it is important that they understand that hunger is interrelated with many of our own national issues such as peace and security of our nation and world, health care and the environment.”
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