William Woods University students help hungry children in Callaway County

Abbie Gutmann, vice-president of school and service for William Woods University's Greek Life, tapes a box full of non-perishable foods for the North and Central Missouri Food Bank's Buddy Pack Program. Students organized about 4,000 pounds of food into bags which were then packed into the boxes. William Woods students raised $2,224 during the school's Greek Week for the Buddy Pack program.
Abbie Gutmann, vice-president of school and service for William Woods University's Greek Life, tapes a box full of non-perishable foods for the North and Central Missouri Food Bank's Buddy Pack Program. Students organized about 4,000 pounds of food into bags which were then packed into the boxes. William Woods students raised $2,224 during the school's Greek Week for the Buddy Pack program.

William Woods University Greek Life students made pact to feed the hungry through joint philanthropic efforts of sororities and fraternities.

The students experienced recent success, donating about 4,000 pounds of food and $2,224 to The Food Bank for Central and Northeast Missouri for its Callaway County Buddy Pack Program.

Current and incoming students organized canned goods and other non-perishable foods into bags on Friday, preparing the food for local children.

Buddy packs are a supplemental food source, Regional Director for Callaway, Boone and Audrain counties Travis Sappington said, and decrease a child's level of food uncertainty - how much and how often a person will eat.

Those donations will go a long way for children in the county, Sappington said.

He referenced the numbers to prove his point.

About 15,000 buddy packs, that's 284 weekly, go home with children in Callaway County.

Fulton children account for 160-175 of those 284 buddy packs going out weekly, Sappington said.

The cost of a buddy pack is $180 per year, or $15 per month. Sappington said he like to think of that as 50 cents a day.

Donations from William Woods students Sappington referred to as "spectacular."

"The opportunity is endless, and with creative minds, anything is possible," he said. "It's all for feeding hungry kiddos."

Lacey Sweeten, William Woods' director of student involvement, said students created various versions of packs to hold donations. Faculty, staff and alumni were major contributors, she said.