Minium: ODU Fans Can help feed the hungry by bringing non-perishable food to Monarch athletic events

By Harry Minium

NORFOLK, Va. –- If you attend, teach or work at Old Dominion University, there is hunger all around you. In fact, anywhere you live in the United States, there are hungry people.

According to a Gallup Survey, 26 percent, or more than one in four Americans, reported that they or family members went hungry sometime in 2023. That number is the highest among the G7 nations, a group that includes the world’s seven most prosperous democracies – Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom and the US.

Only eight percent of Japanese report experiencing hunger. In Germany, a nation that has accepted millions of refugees in recent years, the rate is 13 percent.

In the United States, a nation with a higher standard of living than Germany, the rate is twice as high.

And that, my friends, is a national disgrace.

The culprit, according to the report, is the rampant inflation that raised prices on practically everything in recent years but hit food prices worst of all. More than 44 million American families cannot afford all the food they need.

I don’t pretend to know the long-term solution to this problem. Many advocate for the government to provide more aid.

But until that happens, ordinary people need to step up and try to help those in need. And every Monarch fan can help when they attend selected ODU athletic events in September and early October.

ODU President Brian O, Hemphill, PhD.  began a program called “Monarchs Give Back” a few years ago. And the goal of this effort is to collect 40,000 items of non-perishable food for the hungry.

A year ago, the effort collected, 32,000. That makes this year’s goal ambitious.

If you can help, I urge you to attend the following events, where boxes for food donations will be stationed at ticket gates. Your donations will be collected by student-athletes.

Every fall ODU sports team will take part in this effort.

ODU Women’s Soccer vs. George Mason, Thursday, Sept. 5, 6 p.m.

ODU Football vs. East Carolina, Saturday Sept. 7, 6 p.m.

ODU football vs. Virginia Tech, Saturday, Sept. 14, 6 p.m.

ODU Men’s Soccer vs. George Mason, Sunday, Sept. 15, 6 p.m.

ODU Field Hockey vs. Liberty, Sunday, Sept. 20, 3 p.m.

ODU Volleyball vs. Coastal Carolina, Friday, Oct. 4, 6 p.m.

If you can’t make it to those events, and still would like to help, go to the following link on Amazon.com and you can order food that will delivered directly to the food bank.

CLICK HERE TO DONATE TO ODU FOOD BANK ON AMAZON

When President Hemphill spoke to ODU Athletics employees last month at Chartway Arena, the 100 or so in attendance filled up a long table and two large waste containers with hundreds of items of food. Clearly, I work with a ton of good people.

That food will be distributed in three ways.

First, many donations will go toward the Monarch Food Pantry, which distributes food and toiletries to students every Tuesday from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. in the Suffolk Room in the Webb Student Center.

And, yes, there is hunger among ODU students. Many ODU students work to make ends meet. Some come from impoverished backgrounds. Just because they are students doesn’t mean they are immune to the consequences of rising food prices.

Because ODU is located in Norfolk, and the University is a good neighbor, a large portion of donations go to Norfolk Public School students and their families.

Norfolk has a higher-than-average poverty rate of 19 percent, and the rate is 28.32 percent among children. And if you’ve been to grocery stores lately, you know that you don’t have to be impoverished to struggle to buy what you need.

Food will also be donated to the Foodbank of Southeastern Virginia, which has food pantries that serve people all over the region.

The ODU Food Pantry stocks its shelves, cleans and hands out food largely with volunteer help. If you’re interested in helping, or want to arrange to drop off food, email pantry@odu.edu

Amy Lynch, ODU’s director of student-athlete services and engagement, provided a list of items Norfolk school students especially need:

Boxed granola bars, oatmeal packets, cereal, dehydrated soup, mac n cheese and pasta; plastic jars of marinara sauce, peanut butter and jelly; nonperishable tuna or chicken packets and canned fruit and vegetables (no glass jars please).

The ODU food pantry is especially looking for these items: Nonperishable tuna chicken packets, canned beans, vegetables and fruit; non-perishable grains (pasta, ramen noodles, mac n cheese) and individually wrapped snacks and toiletry items.

A final thought.

When I was feeding and caring for Ukrainian refugees two years ago in Berlin, Germany, I was overwhelmed with the enormity of the problem. Tens of thousands of refugees poured through the tent where they were fed that summer.

And there were millions more escaping Russian tanks in dozens of other feeding centers all over Europe. The misery I saw saddened me.

A German friend, perhaps sensing my frustration, said to me: “We can’t save the world, so we try to save a little piece of the world. We do what we can. That’s all we can do.”

So, do what you can and try to save a little piece of your world.

Come to watch the Monarchs play, with bags of groceries in hand, and feel good about feeding your neighbors and as well as supporting your athletic teams.

Minium is ODU’s senior executive writer. Contact him at hminium@odu.edu or follow him on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram