Food Lion associates restock WSSU's student food pantry
Associates from Food Lion restocked the WSSU Rams Helping Hands Food Pantry with more than 6,000 meals.
Associates from Food Lion restocked the Winston-Salem State University (WSSU) Rams Helping Hands Food Pantry with more than 6,000 meals on Friday, Feb. 23.
Founded in 2016, the Rams Helping Hand Food Pantry provides in-need WSSU students with healthy, culturally appropriate emergency foods. This is part of Food Lion's ongoing efforts to end hunger in local communities. According to studies, one in five students on college campuses is food insecure – lacking reliable access to sufficient quantities of food – which can have a devastating impact on their ability to achieve academic success.
“We want students to focus on learning and not worry about whether they have enough healthy food to eat. That's why we are so proud to continue our partnership with these local school food pantries in the towns and cities we serve," said Emma Inman, director of external communications and community relations at Food Lion.
Food Lion also provided additional shelving to make the pantry more efficient for volunteers. The effort comes at a time following the holiday season when food donations are generally lower and pantry shelves are at risk of being empty. Food Lion is donating more than 44,000 meals to WSSU and three other Central Intercollegiate Athletics Association (CIAA) colleges and universities this week. Other stops are at Livingstone College, Johnson C. Smith University and Virginia State University.
Between June 2017 and February 2018, 102 students have used the pantry; this includes 70 new users. The WSSU Rams Helping Hands Food Pantry is staffed fully by dozens of student volunteers. No student fees are used.
Food Lion is a sponsor of the CIAA tournament. They will present the new Miss CIAA with a $2,500 scholarship. Also, the queen with the most online votes will present $2,000 to a food pantry in her CIAA community to support alleviating hunger, as part of the Food Lion Feeds program.
You can help Miss WSSU Jordan Reaves in her quest to become the next Miss CIAA.
Online voting for Miss CIAA 2018 opened on Monday, Feb. 5, and continues through 5 p.m. on Friday, March 2. Your vote will help to determine the winner, which will be named during the CIAA Super Saturday at the Charlotte Convention Center on March 3.
