DWU fight against hunger featured by UMC
Students and faculty at Dakota Wesleyan University (DWU) are no strangers to solving hunger issues. The United Methodist university has a history of providing solutions when it comes to lack of food and poor nutrition, a legacy with ties to the late Sen. George McGovern, a Mitchell native and advocate for world hunger relief.
Photo: Dakota Wesleyan University senior Brent Matter volunteers for the Weekend Snack Pack Program to provide easy-to-prepare meals to help children who primarily stay home alone on the weekends have something nutritious to eat. Photo courtesy of DWU.
The school’s efforts, particularly its participation in Presidents United to Solve Hunger (PUSH), have been recognized on a national level.
DWU students have found a way to make a difference in Mitchell, a small town of 14,000 people. Through the Weekend Snack Pack Program, students assemble and deliver food to approximately 400 children, distributing the food packs to four local elementary schools. The children receive foods, such as ravioli, macaroni and cheese and either a fruit or a vegetable. The program was created in 2010 to help children who primarily stay home alone on the weekends have something nutritious to eat. The students also aid the local food pantry with canned food drives.
The DWU students and faculty help their neighbors in other parts of the world, as well, including Uganda and Rwanda, where they have instituted programs to help alleviate hunger. In 2013, Alisha Vincent, McGovern Center director began the Livestock for Life project in Uganda, where she works with local leaders to identify families that qualify for a goat or cow. The program helps with food and can generate small incomes for families. In July, a group of students will head to Uganda to lead an agriculture workshop for farmers and work on a plot of land that helps support a school lunch program.
To continue the conversation on a larger scope throughout South Dakota, the McGovern Center is set to host the McGovern Hunger Summit on April 15 on the DWU campus.
Crystal Caviness is a Public Relations Specialist at United Methodist Communications in Nashville, Tenn.
Contact: Crystal Caviness, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5138 or ccaviness@umcom.org
