food for thought events
W A L K F O R P L U M P Y ' N U T
Over 100 students and community members joined in solidarity to participate in this year’s 7th annual 5K Walk for Plumpy’nut on Saturday, September 21st in Cass Park. From a generous combination of donor support, registration fees and raffle proceeds, IC Food for Thought raised $2145.36 to buy Plumpy’nut, a peanut-based therapeutic nutrition supplement, to aid malnourished children in Ethiopia.
Volunteer Engagement As IC Food for Thought’s largest annual event, the Walk for Plumpy’nut relies on many helping hands. From course leaders to tablers, raffle coordinators to team captains and everyone in between, we are extremely grateful for the volunteers who were a tremendous asset in every phase this year’s walk. The 2013 Walk for Plumpy’nut would not have been possible if it were not for our enthusiastic and selfless volunteers! Partnership with Concern Worldwide For the past six years, Food for Thought has partnered with Concern Worldwide to distribute Plumpy’nut through the organization’s feeding centers throughout Ethiopia. To date, IC Food for Thought has been able to feed over 1,000 children through the provision of Plumpy’nut. This past year, we invited Concern Worldwide to talk and teach us about nutrition issues, feeding centers and the path of our donation money. What is Plumpy'nut? Plumpy’nut is a therapeutic food that is revolutionary in the fight against hunger. Peanut paste, vegetable oil, powdered milk and essential vitamins and minerals are packed in a foil packet to provide severely malnourished children with a high protein and high energy packed therapeutic food. Powdered milk formulas were previously used as the standard malnutrition aid, but the formulas were nowhere near as pragmatic as Plumpy’nut. Unlike powdered milk, Plumpy’nut doesn’t need to be mixed with clean water, a precious commodity in Africa, or be kept chilled. Although the two are equal in cost, Plumpy’nut requires no special preparation and is much easier to distribute. In the past, mothers would have to travel for hundreds of miles, leaving their families and children alone for days at home, while they cared for their starving child at a therapeutic feeding station. Now, parents can simply rip open the foil Plumpy’nut packet and feed it to their children at home. By raising money for Plumpy’nut, Food for Thought is supporting a practical and effective tool to reverse malnutrition of hundreds of children. |
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T I E - D Y E C U P C A K E B A K E S A L E
Last year, IC Food for Thought joined She’s the First’s nationwide cupcake extravaganza to “bake a change!” Thanks to the incredible generosity of Purity Ice Cream - a favorite Ithaca sweet tooth destination - IC Food for Thought sold 500 cupcakes, raising over $1,000 to sponsor a girl’s education at the Shanti Bhavan school in India. Not only did Purity Ice Cream supply 500 free cupcakes, but owner Heather Lane created a special tie-dye cupcake recipe specifically for this bake sale!
For the past two years, IC Food for Thought’s cupcake sale has been part of She’s the First’s Tie-Dye Cupcake Bake-Off, an annual event that mobilizes student groups to hold tie-dye cupcake bake sales to sponsor girls’ education. She’s the First is a nonprofit organization that connects young girls with educational scholarships, helping them become the first in their family to graduate high school. |
R I S E U P F O R R I C E
An event created by one of our general body members two years ago, Rise Up For Rice is now one of IC Food for Thought’s annual fall semester events. Held in honor of World Food Day, Rise Up for Rice aims to raise awareness about global malnourishment and poverty, and offer students the opportunity to take action. Over the lunch hour, students were invited to visit freerice.com, a website sponsored by the World Food Programme, and answer trivia questions. After logging into Food for Thought’s account, participants selected any topic of their choosing to answer questions in subjects ranging from multiplication to art history to chemistry. For each correct answer, the World Food Programme donates 10 grains of rice towards alleviating global hunger.
In recent years, we have turned Rise Up For Rice into a trivia night for student organizations across campus. In the spring 2018, we successfully donated 22,940 grains of rice. |
H U N G E R B A N Q U E T
Over 1 billion people in the world suffer from chronic hunger, but hunger is not about too many people and too little food. Our planet produces enough food to feed every man, woman, and child on earth. Hunger is about power. Its roots lie in illiteracy, poverty, war, and the inability of families to grow or buy food.
The Hunger Banquet illustrates inequalities in our world through an interactive event. Guests randomly drew tickets that assigned them to high-, middle-, or low- income tier based on current statistics. The 15 percent in the high-income tier were served a three course meal, the 35 percent in the middle-income tier were served a simple meal of rice and beans, and the the 50 percent low-income tier helped themselves to small portions of rice and water. |
WORLD TOILET DAY
Pay money to use the toilet? Unsafe hygiene practice for women and girls? Diarrheal diseases from open defecation practice? Why it is so hard for people to talk about access to proper toilets? 4.5 billion people around the world do not have access to the toilet. Responding to this rising global issue, IC Food For Thought join the United Nations to celebrate the World Toilet Day on November 19th to raise the awareness among Ithaca College campus community. In the fall semester of 2017, we opened the first discussion about global sanitation at Ithaca College. The panel focused on the impacts of lacking access to the toilet to human health, nutrition, justice, and education. The panelists are experts and students who have great experiences and knowledge of global health. |
A P P L E F E S T G A M E S
Food for Thought tabled at Applefest to advertise for the organization and for the annual Walk for Plumpy'nut. Interactive games, such as ring toss and duck bobbing, were set up. Children could win prizes for playing the games while parents entered into a raffle to sponsor the Walk.
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W O R L D W A T E R W E E K C E L E B R A T I O N S
What better way to promote awareness for this wonderful resource than to completely tarnish it? Food for Thought tabled around campus with water bottles filled with all sorts of nasty-looking stuff, asking the question: “Would you drink this?” This campaign focused on bringing awareness to our world’s water shortages and contamination problems… and also the joy of having water to drink! Local elementary school children painted pictures for Food for Thought, of what water meant to them. The artwork was on display in the popular IC lounge for all to see to celebrate World Water Week.
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F I L M S C R E E N I N G S
Africa is a Woman’s Name
Throughout the semester, IC Food for Thought frequently screens documentaries that coincide with Food for Thought’s mission statement. To close the 2012 fall semester, IC Food for Thought showed “Africa is a Woman’s Name.” Three women filmmakers took viewers on a trip to Africa, where they engaged the audience with stories of their own personal lives, and the efforts they are putting forth to empower women in their countries. It is through three powerful women’s eyes that members were able to witness the progress being made to end violence against women and to inspire young girls. |
HUNGER EDUCATION PHOTO CAMPAIGN