SGA hosts Feed Your Neighbor fundraiser

Community members from across the Charles Village neighborhood gathered on the Freshmen Quad of the Homewood Campus to raise money, cans of food and awareness for the feeding of our neighbors last Saturday. The event, titled “Feed Your Neighbor,” was inspired by Governor Martin O’Malley’s initiative to feed the homeless and end child hunger by 2015.

80 members of the community came together to raise $400; all of the proceeds went directly to the Maryland Food Bank, an affiliate of Feeding America, which provides food for over 37 million Americans annually. The Maryland Food Bank delivers emergency food assistance to those in need by means of soup kitchens, shelters and pantries networked throughout the state. The organization, which was founded in 1979, places a special emphasis on hunger among children, seniors and the homeless, which are among the most food-insecure populations in the state.

Local businesses that took part in the event included several Hopkins-student favorites such as Eddie’s Market, Potbelly Sandwich Shop, Ledo’s Pizza, Carma’s Café and Dominion Ice Cream. Other sponsors included PJ’s Pub, Maxie’s Pizza Bar & Grill, the Hopkins Club and the University’s own on-campus dining service, Bon Appétit. In addition, Barnes & Noble donated for a raffle a quilt made of discontinued Hopkins t-shirts that was valued at $125. Upon arrival at the event, attendees either paid a fee of $5 or turned in five cans of food. In return, attendees were given five tickets that they would later use to purchase fresh food from any number of the aforementioned vendors.

Several of the University’s sororities, including Alpha Phi, Pi Beta Phi and Kappa Alpha Theta, also participated in the event and provided homemade baked goods. Entertainment was provided by the Magical Arts Initiative, Temps D’Afrique Ladies and Chiefs, Indian dance team Shakti, the Gospel Choir and the widely known a cappella group the Octopodes.

While the event’s 80 participants included many volunteers and a few Charles Village locals, the majority of the participants were Hopkins students.

“Though I wasn’t at the event for an extensive period of time, I was able to notice a part of the Hopkins community collaborating together for the greater good of our surrounding community of Baltimore,” freshman Clarissa Trabanino said, “I enjoyed the atmosphere, what it stood for, and what the event had to offer — especially the a capella performance!”

September is Hunger Action Month, and Executive Vice President of the Student Government Association Janice Bonsu eagerly took this project on — with the help of Junior Class President Destiny Bailey — to bring the issue of hunger in Maryland to the center of attention at Hopkins.

The Maryland Food Bank has launched a campaign called “Be A Voice” that is intended to increase hunger awareness and invoke change throughout the state. They define “food insecurity” as “the inability to consistently access nutritious food” and report that, although Maryland is the richest state based on income, one in seven people experience hunger. The campaign will culminate in the third annual Hunger Action Symposium at the end of the month, tickets for which are currently sold out.

Governor O’Malley’s two-week initiative, called “Governor’s Day to Serve,” was the true inspiration for the event. Day to Serve, which kicked off on Sept. 15 and will last until Sept. 29, is all about community service and environmental restoration. It began last year as a collaborative effort between the governors of Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia along with the mayor of Washington, D.C. The four are promoting their initiative by encouraging anyone and everyone to create their own events to raise food and money in addition to participating in events such as Feed Your Neighbor. Their goal this year is to double last year’s efforts.

As one of the event’s leading coordinators, Bailey was very pleased with the event’s turnout. “This isn’t the first year Hopkins has participated in the Governor’s Day to Serve, but we are trying to build on it a little more year after year,” she wrote in an email to The News-Letter, “We hope that ‘Feed Your Neighbor’ will be an annual event and even more successful next year!”