Race Against Hunger

The school year is officially underway, which means our Race Against Hunger initiative is back in action! The Race is our service learning program, uniting middle and high school students across the country in the fight against global hunger and malnutrition. After a visit to Columbus, GA in August, our Race team made another stop on September 18th at The Bridge program in Charlotte, NC.

Here at ACF, we get questions all the time from students like you. They are students who want to help fight hunger but do not know where to start or how to get involved. After learning about the recent crisis in the Horn of Africa, more and more students are emailing us with questions about our work to end global hunger and malnutrition. Details of the crisis in the Horn of Africa are striking: an estimated 11.5 million are impacted by food shortages, huge losses of livestock, and drought-like conditions.

Our Education Team traveled to Atlanta, GA last Wednesday to attend the National Service Learning Conference. We believe this was an experience worth sharing.

Students and educators from all over the U.S. joined together to share a wide variety of service-learning projects. Action Against Hunger was among many other nonprofits educating teachers and students about their service-learning program as well as promoting the different educational resources available for them.

The 4th annual Race Against Hunger has officially begun with a wide range of schools participating from across the country. Of the 64 schools enrolled, two are involved in the Challenge 20/20—an educational program launched by the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) in 2005.

This year, the Race Against Hunger promises to be bigger than ever. A national service-learning campaign to educate students about the symptoms and underlying causes of global hunger and malnutrition, the Race also raises vital funds for Action Against Hunger’s life-saving programs around the world.

The Race Against Hunger is a national service-learning campaign that unites students in the fight against global hunger and malnutrition. Tapping into the great potential of youth to become powerful agents of change, the Race Against Hunger aims to engage students in learning about the causes of global hunger and inspire them to become part of the solution.

Armed with youthful idealism and a desire to make the world a better place, students around the country are making strides in the fight against global hunger with ACF’s international Race Against Hunger campaign. Modeled after Action Against Hunger’s highly successful student outreach program in France, the Race Against Hunger aims to educate middle school students about the problem of global hunger while inspiring them to be part of the solution. Spring 2008 marked Action Against Hunger’s pilot Race Against Hunger in the U.S., with four middle schools participating in Chicago, Illinois.

Students at Clinton Township Middle School in New Jersey created a poignant learning activity on global hunger with a project called Hands 4 Hunger that symbolizes the 25,000 people who die every day from hunger-related causes. Students created a collage of 2,500 colorful hand-shaped cutouts, each representing 10 of these 25,000 fatalities. As a public display, the collage educates as well as impresses, providing facts about global hunger.

Here at Action Against Hunger we often get inquiries asking where people can send donations. So when our Student Outreach Fellow received an email from Charlie, a Pittsburgh teen, asking just that, she replied as she always does. She asked if he could tell us a little bit about the donation. Here is his surprising response:

"This experience for me has been a new journey. I enjoyed helping people who have more needs than others. I’ve learned how to spend money on things that are needed and not take money or things I have for granted. I also have a new appreciation for the things I do have. I felt enjoyment participating in this journey that will never end. As long as we still have people with a heart, people, like the people of Burundi will have a chance. These people need more than just food. They need love, proper nutrition and shelter. I never knew that millions of people suffer each day from hunger.