Around 100 student volunteers from Mississippi State University spent Friday afternoon packaging 5,000 meals to be shipped across the state, country and internationally, in an effort to raise awareness of food insecurity. The two part event began with a hunger awareness meal and ended with the packaging drive.
According to the most recent U.S. census data, 30 percent of those living in Oktibbhea County live in poverty, and over 12,000 individuals are listed as living in food insecure households. Nearly a quarter of individuals in the county face food hardships, Feeding America data showed.
The awareness meal was put on through the Oxfam Hunger Banquet model that gives individuals a different socioeconomic status, with a related meal ranging from poor, struggling middle class to wealthy.
"We wanted to do something that people in Mississippi would experience," said Maroon Volunteer Center Assistant Director Meggan Franks.
For more, see the Oct. 22 edition.