Help is needed any time from 7 a.m.-9 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 22, in WSU’s Rhatigan Student Center ballroom. Numana will provide materials for the 20,000 meals free of charge. It will be up to WSU students, faculty and staff, and others in the Wichita community to package them from noon-3 p.m.

Volunteers are encouraged to sign up at http://www.wichita.edu/j/?1286.

The project is sponsored by the Office of the Provost and Rhatigan Student Center.

Impact thousands of lives

A Swipe event is a fun, hands-on way to make an impact on thousands of lives in a short amount of time, according to Deborah Ballard-Reisch, Kansas Health Foundation Distinguished Chair in Strategic Communication and professor in the Elliott School of Communication at WSU, whose class is coordinating the relief effort.

“In just one hour, 10 people can package more than 1,200 meals,” said Ballard-Reisch. “The work done on Oct. 22 will make a difference across the globe.”

This particular food packaging event will provide meals to Somali refugees.

Volunteers will gather around tables and package rice, soy, freeze-dried beans and a vitamin blend designed for starving people into packages that feed six people.

According to one student, participating in a food package event “is simultaneously humbling and empowering.”

In addition on Oct. 22, WSU students, staff and faculty will have an opportunity to share stories about their personal experiences with hunger by participating in an anonymous, open-ended survey.

Ballard-Reisch and the Health Seminar students will use this data to better inform the WSU community about the nature and scope of hunger on campus. Ultimately, the objective is to help the WSU community in reducing hunger.

For more information about this event or about the Seminar in Health Communication, go to http://WSUHunger.wordpress.com or https://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/WSUHungerAwareness.

On Twitter, follow @WSUHunger and use the hashtag #WSUHunger.