By Alyssa Davanzo
It was just after 3 pm, and UConn junior Annie Sung hadn’t eaten since the afternoon before. Her busy morning kept her from thinking about food during the day, but by the afternoon her grumbling stomach was getting harder to ignore.
“Now that I’m actually thinking about it and in the Union, I’m getting pretty hungry,” Sung said.
Sung is one of the students who pledged not to eat for 24 hours, joining members of Kappa Phi Lambda, Pi Delta Si and the Vietnamese Student Associations to raise awareness for hunger.
There are currently 842 million people in the world who struggle with hunger every day. UConn students who made the pledge raised money for Feeding Children Everywhere, a social charity that mobilizes people to assemble healthy meals for hungry children and their families.Sung reached out to her family and friends for donations, and has raised $329.63 so far. But that’s not all.
“We’re taking the donations and packaging the food for Feeding Children Everywhere to give to hungry children,” Sung said.
Every dollar means four meals for hungry children and their families. Last year, Huskies Fight Hunger raised $5,000, which equated to 20,000 meals.
Jarrod Fucci was introduced to the organization two years ago. He is now the Northeast Regional Manager of Feeding Children Everywhere.
“In our industry, we pride ourselves on the fact that people will do good socially. My job doesn’t exist without the goodwill of people, and I love that,” Fucci said.
FCE has a commitment to provide the healthiest meal possible for children and families around the world. The nutritious meal includes pink Himalayan sea salt, 84 essential minerals, a blend of six dehydrated vegetables, white rice farmed in Louisiana, and lentils.
“I eat it all of the time – not necessarily because I’m in a dire crisis food situation, but because our meal is super healthy and super tasty,” Fucci said.
Although Connecticut is one of the most affluent states in the country, 12 percent of residents go to bed hungry every night.
“There’s a lot of pieces of your body that goes into feeling extreme hunger. If you did this for one more day, probably all of you would have passed out at some point,” Fucci said.
Fucci says that when people are put first, anything can be accomplished UConn and Feeding Children Everywhere will come together on Nov. 9 to package thousands of healthy meals .