Kent State Fights Local Hunger with National Campus Kitchen Effort

November 18, 2010                                         
For Immediate Release      

Media Contacts:
Maureen Roche, The Campus Kitchens Project
                                                                  202-789-5979, x105
mroche@campuskitchens.org

Kimberley Sirk, Kent State University
330-672-8514
ksirk@kent.edu

Kent State Fights Local Hunger with National Campus Kitchen Effort
Grant Funding Will Open Kitchen Doors, Feed Ohioans

WASHINGTON, D.C. - In an appearance at Kent State University tonight, Robert Egger, founder of DC Central Kitchen and The Campus Kitchens Project, will challenge Kent State students to fight hunger locally and applaud their efforts to bring a Campus Kitchen to Kent this spring.  The kitchen will be the first in Ohio and part of a network of 30 schools working to fight hunger across the country.  The Campus Kitchen at Kent State will receive $15,000 from the national Campus Kitchens Project, which will help the kitchen open and begin operations.

The Campus Kitchen at Kent State will open spring 2011 and share on-campus kitchen space, recover food from cafeterias and community donation and engage students as volunteers who prepare and deliver meals to Ohioans in need.  The kitchens are entirely student run with students planning menus, getting food, running cooking shifts and organizing meal delivery. Since 2001, Campus Kitchens has engaged more than 25,000 student volunteers in recovering more than one million pounds of donated food and delivered one million meals to their communities. 

Egger is on campus as part of Kent State’s two-day effort to increase awareness and end hunger. Named one of the “50 most powerful and influential non-profit leaders” by the Non Profit Times, Egger brings a social change attitude to helping cities take care of their own.  Former nightclub manager, award winning author and one of Oprah’s Angels, Egger will discuss how the Kent State community can make a difference in the fight against hunger on Nov. 18 and at the Nov.19 Oxfam-America Hunger Banquet.

Editor’s Note: “An Evening with Robert Egger” is set for Thursday, Nov. 18 at 8 p.m. in the Governance Chambers in the Kent Student Center.  The Oxfam-America Hunger Banquet is Friday, Nov. 19 at 11 a.m. in the Moulton Hall Ballroom.

About The Campus Kitchens Project
The Campus Kitchens Project (CKP) is a national organization that provides healthy meals to those in need by harnessing the spirit of student volunteerism within local communities.  Now in its ninth year, CKP operates on 30 university and high school campuses. Thanks to the support of the Walmart Foundation, Sodexo, General Mills and the Corporation for National and Community Service, CKP continues to grow.  More information on CKP is available at www.campuskitchens.org.

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