College of Education administrative assistants held their monthly professional development activity at Kids Against Hunger in Mankato on Thursday, November 13, 2008. Kids Against Hunger is a nonprofit organization with the mission to significantly reduce the number of hungry children in the USA and to feed starving children throughout the world. “We feed the over 1,500 children five days a week in Haiti,” Kids Against Hunger’s Mankato’s satellite director, Tim Stromer said. “Volunteers package food that costs only 23 cents per serving but means the difference between life and death for the children receiving the food.”
COE staff packaged over 4,000 meals to be shipped to Haiti. COE Administrative Assistants participate in professional development activities once per month throughout the school year but this is the first time they have done a volunteer activity. “We wanted to do something as a group that provided some genuine relief,” professional development committee member Kathy Hoffman said. “Over 40,000 children age 15 and under die every day from malnutrition, starvation, and hunger-related diseases. Working together as a team, we left with a new appreciation for our jobs, for the many blessings we have, for the friendship of co-workers, and feeling that we can make a difference."
New KSP staff member Wendy Meyer agrees. “The Kids Against Hunger activity was a great professional development experience because not only did we take in new knowledge about hunger, we had the opportunity to respond with a “hands on” effort that had immediate results. How often does that happen in training? In less than 2 hours our group of 11 packed meals that will feed 4,104 hungry children.” Wendy continued, “As a new employee at MNSU’s College of Education, I am impressed that I could have this opportunity. I am excited to be in a workplace that has a broader worldview which involves ourselves, our community and its outreach. Kudos to our Dean, Michael Miller, for approving this!”
The Kids Against Hunger network currently includes over 30 food packaging satellites across the United States and one in Canada. Volunteers package, weigh, seal and box up bags of specially formulated vegetables, chicken, rice and soy mixture. Each bag holds six meals. For more information, visit http://www.feedingchildren.org/index.php or http://www.feedingchildren.org/whatismain.php
or call Tim Stromer at (507) 387-KIDS (5437) or by email at tim@kidsagainsthunger.com.
Follow the link below for a video of the founder of Kids Against Hunger, Richard Proudfit
http://kstp.com/article/stories/S438331.shtml?cat=1&v=1
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