Thanks to UNMC faculty and staff and the staff and students at the UNMC Youth Learning Center, the annual Project Hope Food Drive that was conducted during the months of November and December was a huge success. The brightly colored boxes were placed throughout the campus for individuals to place their donations in. The students then collected the donated items weekly.
“The staff at Project Hope was very appreciative of the outpouring of generosity made by the employees of UNMC and the students at the UNMC Youth Learning Center,” said Lisa Jewell, Director of the UNMC Youth Learning Center. “The students collected more than 800 items and they were enjoyed by many families, just in time for the holidays.”
At the end of the food drive, the staff and students of the UNMC Youth Learning Center took the donated items to Project Hope and helped their staff and volunteers prepare the bags to give to the families.
Project Hope packed 25 items of food in each bag for distribution, said Mary Ann Johnson, executive director of the Project Hope Lutheran Food Pantry. Families with one or two individuals received one bag, while families of three or four received two bags.
“When we gave out the 35 bags that we were able to pack with your donations, we helped 35 smaller families or maybe 17 larger families and 17 smaller families,” Johnson said. “However it is packed, you helped us feed many hungry people.
“We would like to thank the staff and students of the UNMC Youth Learning Center for their continued support and concern for people in need,” Johnson said. “The energy of your young people, plus the donations from UNMC, really helped us out during this holiday season.”
More and more people need the services of Project Hope, Johnson said, noting the pantry saw an increase of more than 100 families in December of 2004. In 2004, Project Hope served a record 5,614 families representing 14,012 people.