Almost 870 million people will go to sleep hungry tonight – 200 million of those are children.
According to the Stop Hunger Now website, at least one in every nine people on the planet go to bed starving. Hunger kills more people a year than AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis combined.
Gulf Coast Wesley Foundation, a United Methodist campus ministry, is hosting its first Stop Hunger Now meal packaging event Oct. 30 in the Cohen Center ballroom.
GCW chose the Stop Hunger Now meal packaging program because it fulfills each of their defining principles.
GCW grounds itself on three main principles: Love God, Serve People and Change the World. Members are currently reaching out to the students of Florida Gulf Coast University and any interested volunteers in the area.
“Wesley students see the suffering of others in the world and want to make a difference,” said Christy Holden, a United Methodist pastor and the Campus Minister for GCW.  “It seems unacceptable for people to suffer needlessly when we have so much more than we need for ourselves.  This is one simple way we can express God’s love − one way we can make a tangible difference.”
Stop Hunger Now is an international hunger relief agency that was started in 1998. SHN has one mission: A world without hunger. The organization created its meal packaging program in 2005, and as of today, over 166 million meals have been packaged.
GCW plans on packaging 200,000 meals in two hours. Hundreds of students and volunteers are needed to achieve this goal. There are three shifts available for service on Oct. 30. Service learning hours will be available for those who participate in this event.
In preparation for the meal packaging event, GCW will host a screening of “The Well: Water Voices from Ethiopia,” Oct. 29 at 8 p.m. in the Cohen Center ballroom.
GCW is tabling everyday on campus until the event. To sign up to volunteer find them on campus or visit: www.gulfcoastwesley.org/stophungernow.
For more information on Stop Hunger Now visit: www.stophungernow.org