Bristol, R.I. – The Rhode Island Community Food Bank is bringing a hunger awareness campaign to farmer’s markets around the state and the Friday farmer’s market at Roger Williams University was the first college campus stop.
The Paper Plate Campaign encourages individuals to have their voices heard on a major social issue – hunger. Participants write or draw their thoughts about hunger on a paper plate that will be hand-delivered to local legislators at the end of September for Hunger Awareness Month.
“It’s a way to get the thoughts and feelings of everyone – students and workers – to the politicians,” said Sean Dixon who is one of six “Hungry Hungry Helpers,” a group of sophomore students who developed a Living Learning Community to promote hunger awareness in the local community.
At the start of the semester the Hungry Hungry Helpers reached out to the R.I. Community Food Bank, working with Director of Communications Cindy Elder ’87 to bring the Paper Plate Campaign to campus. And what better way to grow awareness than to bring an educational opportunity right to campus – in the form of expression on paper plates.
According to Hungry Hungry Helper Jack Frey, “Not everyone knows this but there are 60,000 people in Rhode Island affected by hunger out of the 1 million people in the state. We want to change that.”
Awareness has proven the most effective means of achieving that change.
As he decorated a paper plate at RWU’s Farmer’s Market, senior Ryan Jacobs said, “Hunger is a worldwide issue and resolving it starts with a step in your own community.”