The Harvest for Hunger campaign at Kent State at Stark was a success.

Starting April 8 through April 16, students, faulty and staff members of Kent State Stark contributed monetary and food donations to benefit the Akron-Canton Regional Food Bank. Overall, Stark raised $220.16 and more than 300 lbs. of food.

Kelly Simonis, the special events coordinator for KSU at Stark, said that Stark has held a campaign for Harvest for Hunger since 2011.  Tina Biasella, director of external affairs for KSU at Stark, came up with the idea in 2011 after her daughter participated in a campaign at her school. 

“Tina started one here on the Kent Stark campus, knowing how the community, faulty and staff are so giving and willing,” Simonis said.

This year, in addition to accepting food donations, the bookstore and food Emporium on campus bold sold Flashes Fight Hunger pledges in increments of $1, $2, or $3.  Just in these donations, the bookstore and food Emporium raised $60 combined.

Jessica Anderson, the food service manager at KSU Stark, said it went great.  “I think it went very well, for just one week,” Anderson said.  “When I was counting up the money, I saw a few $10 bills in there, so there were some very generous people donating.

Money was also raised through a guessing contest held by Simonis. The game was to guess how many pieces of candy were in the jar and  “guesses” were sold for $1. Academic Program Coordinator in the Recreation and Wellness Center Stacie Humm came closest to the actual amount, Simonis said.  Humm’s guess was 427, only three off from the 430 actual count. 

On Wednesday, April 16, members from the Food Bank came in a SARTA bus to pick up donations as part of their “stuff the bus” process while they travel to different collection sites that day, according to Simonis.

Morgan Hoover, sophomore photojournalism major, enlisted the help of her sorority, Chi Omega, to help with Harvest for Hunger campaign.

“Knowing that Chi Omega is really into donating and doing whatever we can to go back into the community, I decided to open it up us,” Hoover said.

Hoover asked all the girls in Chi Omega if they could help by leaving a collection of food in the house and then she would drive it to Stark.

“We collected a whole bunch of food, packed it into my car, and drove it down to Stark.  And I mean my car was full,” she said enthusiastically.  Hoover said they had around 20 bags in her car, each containing around 5 items. 

The Harvest for Hunger campaign at Stark was victorious, as it more than doubled the amount raised in monetary donations during last year’s Harvest for Hunger campaign. 

“Overall, we saw a lot of people donating, guessing for the game and bringing in food as well, “ Simonis said.  “We had people still bringing in money and items still coming in even after we ended the campaign, so that was nice that people were hearing about it and getting involved.”

Contact Julia Adkins at [email protected].