Letter to the Editor: Help students in need: Fund the Hunger Relief Program

My name is Chris Toomey and I am a Bellevue College Alumni, and previous News Editor and reporter for the student run newspaper, The Watchdog. I am now writing to appeal to the college community to help their fellow students, teachers, and staff.

Over the course of the last year I spent much of my time reporting and advocating on campus on behalf of students and staff in need who were often forced to attend classes suffering from hunger. While every individual’s circumstances were different, an overarching theme was an inability to access food on campus due to a lack of an established food bank, EBT terminal (needed to process EBT transactions), or other supplementary food program.

Over the summer of 2013, Bellevue College implemented the pilot Hunger Relief Program to fight hunger on campus. The program received an unprecedented number of participants, servings as many as 50 meals per day to individuals on campus, students and staff alike. Unfortunately, due to the magnitude of success, the originally allocated funds for the program ran out far quicker than expected, and the program was effectively terminated just prior the New Year.

Now these students need your help. As long as the program remains unfunded, individuals in need in the community will continue to go hungry, affecting their academics, and ultimately undermining the development of the community.

Why this is worth your time (and money):

Hunger relief is a REAL and pressing need. Students who attend classes hungry have long been shown to display significantly poorer cognitive functioning, decreased school attendance, and diminished academic achievement.

By helping students in need gain access to food, you are helping them excel in their academics and thus shaping the community and the world of tomorrow.

Making a Difference:

Help this campaign raise the following: Raise over $3000 to fund the program for another quarter, raise awareness about hunger and its effect on students’ academic performance, and raise cultural awareness that those in need are not “lesser than” other human beings, and deserve the same opportunities to succeed in an academic environment.

You can contribute to this campaign by visiting http://igg.me/at/ Help-Feed-Students-In-Need

Any and all funds contributed to this campaign, will go towards providing meals to individuals in need at Bellevue College through the Hunger Relief Program. Without your help, this program will continue its hiatus due to a lack of funding.

Can’t send funds? You can still contribute!

Tell your friends, your family, even your teachers or boss! Ask folks to contribute by getting the word out and make some noise!

Do you Have a blog? Blog this! Have a twitter? Tweet this! Have a Facebook? Share this!

For more information visit http://igg.me/at/ Help-Feed-Students-In-Need