We are… doing our part to fight hunger
Students from the Physician Assistant (PA) Program at Penn State College of Medicine packaged more than 14,000 meals to be distributed to people in need throughout the world Nov. 15 at the University Conference Center in Hershey.
The PA Class of 2020 raised $4,847 for Rise Against Hunger, an international hunger relief organization that distributes food and life-changing aid to the world’s most vulnerable, with a goal of ending hunger by 2030.
Brandon Kinneman, president of the Class of 2020, thanked the students for making time in their schedules to help out the community.
“The event is a fantastic way for us to come together as a program and give back to our community,” said Kinneman. “It is gratifying to see fellow students take time out of their busy schedules to serve a worthy cause.”
Rise Against Hunger purchased the food that was packaged using the funds raised by the PA Program. Students from the Milton Hershey School and other community members formed an assembly line with the physician assistant students to package 14,256 meals in less than two hours.
“Eight hundred and twenty million people in the world don’t know where their next meal is coming from or lack access to healthy foods,” said Megan Davis, a community engagement coordinator with Rise Against Hunger, in her address to students before they started packaging meals. “Today you’re going to change that by packing meals so that some of those people will know where their next meal is coming from.”
Since 2016, students in the PA Program have raised more than $18,000 to fight hunger and packaged more than 60,600 meals. The effort underscores the commitment to community service instilled in students at the College of Medicine.
See more photos from the 2019 meal-packing event on Flickr.
Students, faculty and staff from the Physician Assistant (PA) Program at Penn State College of Medicine present a check for nearly $5,000 to Rise Against Hunger – symbolic of the funds that helped purchase the food they packed at the University Conference Center on Nov. 15, 2019.
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