A high-tech bus equipt with seven 60-inch TVs parked on the Keene State College campus Thursday and Friday, April 9 and 10, with the hopes to educate students about the role of agriculture and raise awareness about the global issue of hunger that millions of people face each day. The bus was representing the Farmers Feeding the World’s HungerU Tour.
According to the HungerU website, “Farmers Feeding the World brings together all of American agriculture and consumers throughout the United States to feed those in immediate crisis and teach the hungry, regardless of the circumstance to feed themselves.” The website also states Farmers Feeding the World is a Farm Journal Foundation initiative. The foundation is a nonprofit corporation working to prolong agriculture’s ability to feed the growing population on a global scale.
Colton McCracken / Equinox Staff
Katie Wynot, a student employee at the KSC community service office, further explained the HungerU tour.
“HungerU is a mobile educational exhibit that travels to campuses around the nation rasing awareness of the issue of nutrition security,” she explained.
Wynot explained that to be “food secure” means to have access to nutritional essentials and grocery stores. She said that Asia is the most food insecure place in the world.
Before its stop at KSC, Karoline Rose, a senior from Montana State University and member of the HungerU crew, stated the tour made stops at Colgate University, Cornell University and Syracuse University.
The purpose of the HungerU Tour, Rose said, is to bring about awareness on the issue of hunger to student bodies nationwide.
“We want to educate the students [so they’ll realize] world hunger is an issue and that there are solutions and they can be apart of that solution. We’re using education to spark action,” Rose explained.
She said students can remember not to waste food and to shop for food locally to help the cause.
HungerU’s set up included seven 60-inch flat screen televisions, six iPad minis, free sunglasses and Frisbees and two tractors for students to race on. KSC first-year student Abbey Barr said the flashiness of HungerU’s presence is what drew her in.
Barr stated that she and her friends were walking down Appian Way when they saw the televisions and bus and decided to stop by and talk to HungerU crew members.
She stated she learned of ways to help end hunger not only through crew members like Rose, but also through the five-question challenge she took at HungerU’s bus.
The challenge, Rose explained, consisted of multiple-choice questions that help the participant realize how much or how little they know about world hunger.
Rose added that for each challenge completed, one meal would be provided for a hungry U.S. resident.
“My favorite part was being able to donate a meal just by answering some questions — it was rewarding,” Barr said.
Not all students were so pleased by the Hunger U tour’s presence, however.
A handful of students were reportedly outraged upon learning DuPont, a corporation promoting genetically modified organisms [GMO’s] or genetically engineered goods, is a sponsor of the HungerU Tour.
“DuPont uses science in developing food so a lot of people tie them to GMO’s — which is correct,” Rose reiterated.
“They fund HungerU but they don’t give us any verbatim things that we’re supposed to say. All of us on the crew believe that agriculture is the solution to hunger. We are pro-agriculture in general as is DuPont,” she explained.
Rose explained her desire to educate students on the issue of world hunger reaches a personal level, as she spent time volunteering in a starvation ward in Uganda, but she refuses to let the naysayers tarnish her spirit.
“We really encourage those who are saying negative things [about us or DuPont] to come up and have a conversation,” she said. “The beauty of HungerU is none of [the crew] are given any answers. You could ask the same question to any of us and we’re all going to give you different answers because we all come from different backgrounds,” she explained. Rose clarified by saying the crew’s differences in upbringing allows them to personalize their reasoning for wanting to end world hunger.
“As for the negative comments people might say while walking away and stuff, they don’t want to have a conversation so there’s nothing we can do about that,” she said.
Claire Hickey can be contacted at chickey@kscequinox.com
