On February 17th, the Association of Women in Agriculture (AWA) partnered with the Alpha Gamma Rho-Iota (AGR) fraternity with the goal packaging 30,000 meals for the third annual Rally to Fight Hunger event.
The 74 participants well exceeded this goal, and packaged 30,672 meals in just under three hours. AWA once again partnered with Kids Against Hunger - Rock County, who provided the supplies for the meals. These meals will be sent to communities as close as Madison, and as far away as Kenya.
The Kids Against Hunger meals provide a source of easily digestible protein, carbohydrates and vitamins that are needed for malnourished children and adults. These meals also offer all nine essential amino acids required for complete nutrition, which is not typical of other food relief sources, according to Kids Against Hunger.
AWA members also had to opportunity to be sponsored by family and friends to fund the event. Members raised over $1,200 in donations.
The Rally to Fight Hunger is a service event that was started in 2016 by past AWA Service Coordinator, McKenzie Rowley. Current Service Coordinator, Abigail Martin, continued the event for its third year.
“Rally to Fight Hunger has been my favorite event to plan as the AWA Service Coordinator. There was a great deal excitement leading up to the event, and lots of sisters were eager to help out however they could,” said Martin. “The day of the event was full of fun and laughter with friends, and left myself and everyone who participated feeling of great sense of pride for what we just accomplished.”
AWA is a 501c7 non-profit professional student organization at the University of Wisconsin-Madison housed in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. The organization was founded in the spring of 1973 and now has a membership of over 100 young women and an alumni and associate members and friends’ membership of over 500 people who all share a passion for agriculture. The organization is built upon the three pillars of professional, service, and social with a goal of improving communication among women in agriculture and helping them achieve their goals. AWABC provides student housing for 24 members at its house located near the agricultural campus at UW-Madison. AWABC hosts member events to support professional development, leadership and networking as well as public agricultural educational activities to promote agricultural awareness. http://awamadison.org
