Published on September 20, 2013 | by Jesse Espana Photography by Brittany McCaughey

Two Hours, One Million Lives

Student volunteers taking part in the third annual World Record Event to Fight Hunger at the University of Guelph managed to surpass their goal of packing 650,000 relief meals to aid starving children in West Africa.

On Sept. 8, 2013, just over 2,500 students, staff, alumni and community members – including approximately 50 students from the University of Guelph-Humber – piled into the Gryphon Field House in Guelph to take part. With last year’s total of 350,000 meals packed, the event has seen a total of one million meals packed to date. That means that one million people who suffer from hunger in the country of Mauritania have been touched by this cause.

The event was a great opportunity to be a part of a powerful cause. From small children to teens and parents, everyone took part in the packing, weighing, and sealing process.

Despite the outside rain, spirits were high and the atmosphere resembled that of a pep rally. Team chants from different packing stations rang over top the celebratory cheers that followed each box of meals being sealed. Members of the Guelph Gryphons football team further enforced the idea of community as they carried packs of food to the multiple stations.

Many businesses also stepped in to give back, including TD Canada Trust and Scotiabank, who took part in the packing process, as well as Kinross Gold Corporation, who provided the emergency relief food.

Event creator Gavin Armstron, came up with the idea after attending a conference where he and a smaller group of attendees managed to pack 600 meals in half an hour. Armstrong felt inspired to try this out on a larger scale.

Armstrong, who is in his final year at the University of Guelph, hopes that this event inspires students and community members to build on his contributions to end world hunger.

“In such little time we can effect so many lives,” says Armstrong.

The University hopes to make all this possible with the help of Universities Fighting World Hunger and United Nations World Food Program who will aid in the transportation of the meals.

The World Record Event to Fight Hunger is just one step of The Better Planet Project, which aims to raise money for multiple issues around the world. The project has raised just over $160 million of its $200 million target.

For more information on Universities Fighting World Hunger and The Better Planet Project, visit http://www.universitiesfightingworldhunger.org/ and http://www.thebetterplanetproject.ca/.

About the Author

Jesse Espana is a third year Media Studies student. Apart from working on becoming a better writer, he fills his time with all things music and technology. As the Radio/Podcast Division head of GuHu Media, Guelph-Humber's student-run media society, Jesse hopes to one day work with a music or technology based publication. Remaining open minded and taking every opportunity as they come is a large part of Jesse's life and he plans to make the most of his post-secondary education.