By Samantha Smith
Youngstown State University’s Student Government Association held a series of events in collaboration with Swipe Out Hunger, Nov. 7, 9 and 10.
Swipe Out Hunger is a nonprofit organization originally formed in 2010. The organization was created to spread awareness about food insecurity.
Nick Peskor, a junior majoring in mechanical engineering and vice president of assessment and enrichment for SGA, explained what event was held each day.
“The Board of Professionals [Panel] is Monday, Nov 7, that is in the Rossi room. Then, the Hunger Simulation is Wednesday, Nov. 9, that will be in the Chestnut room. The dodgeball tournament is the next day, Nov. 10, that’s a Thursday and that will be right in the [Andrews Student Recreation and Wellness Center],” Peskor said.
Nickiforos Mastorides, a first-year graduate student majoring in criminal justice and president of SGA, said the emphasis of the program is to inspire students to donate leftover meal swipes they have not used throughout the week.
“A lot of the emphasis for the program is encouraging students to donate their meal swipes, who have meal plans here, that they wouldn’t normally use by the end of the week. So, any students who are hungry or if they can’t afford a meal plan, all those donated swipes go to those students in need. This year [SGA] is putting a large emphasis on donating a lot of our goods to the Penguin Pantry,” Mastorides said.
This was the second annual Swipe Out Hunger Week. The Board of Professionals panel included speakers such as the Dean of Students, Nicole Kent-Strollo; the Vice President of Meals on Wheels, David Scott; Rescue Mission of the Mahoning County’s CEO, John Muckridge Ⅲ and President Jim Tressel.
Following the Board of Professionals Panel, the Hunger Simulation showed students the food situations people in different incomes face, including meal sizes and experiences.
Finally, the last event was the dodgeball tournament. Peskor said this was to help boost donations on the final day of Swipe Out Hunger Week. SGA sent out an email to all students with links to register and attend each event.
Peskor said it is important to show students the amount of people who experience food insecurity.
“The most important thing to emphasize is just how many people are actually hungry in the area and the food insecurity is a huge, huge problem in Youngstown. Because it is a problem in Youngstown, it’s also affecting quite a few students at YSU and so we just want to promote the [Penguin] Pantry usage,” Peskor said. “These two weeks are the biggest donation drive weeks that we have pretty much all year to give to the pantry.”
For more information about Swipe Out Hunger, visit its website. For more information about the Student Government Association, visit its website.