SIFE team wins second place in national Let’s Can Hunger Challenge
Photo by Scott Indermaur: L-R Jose Socorro, Elizabeth Johnson, Dr. Mark Maynard
May 19, 2010
Contact: Paul K. Logsdon, Director of Public Relations and Publications (417) 865-2815, ext. 7292
Springfield, Mo — On May 11-13 Evangel’s SIFE Team competed in the 2010 SIFE USA National Exposition in Minneapolis, Minn., taking second place in the overall national competition out of more than 200 participants for the Let’s Can Hunger Challenge.
In addition, the Let’s Can Hunger Challenge, sponsored by Campbell’s Soup, awarded Evangel University’s SIFE Team with the Silver Spoon Award and $2,500 for their work toward providing “urgent hunger relief.”
Evangel’s SIFE Team, led by Student Project Director Jose Socorro (so., Bayonne, N.J.) and Dr. Mark Maynard, Sam Walton Fellow and professor of Business, participated in several events to raise food donations in the Let’s Can Hunger Challenge. In December they partnered with Evangel’s music dept. at the annual Christmas concert to benefit the Ozarks Food Harvest. They raised 2,543 pounds of food and $1,400 in donations. In February the SIFE Team partnered with Evangel’s men’s and women’s basketball teams, collecting canned goods at the doors for the games.
During spring break six Evangel students led by Dr. Maynard, teamed up with Convoy of Hope to distribute more than 20 tons of food in Guatemala City, Guatemala. The SIFE Team worked with Global Teen Challenge as well as local churches and schools to provide food and educate on how to grow food both for personal use and for profit as a social enterprise endeavor.
The Let’s Can Hunger Challenge gave SIFE teams the opportunity to compete while raising hunger awareness. Competition objectives aimed to motivate teams to organize food drives and fundraisers for struggling families, as well as implement systems to help break ‘cycles of hunger.’
While in Guatemala, Evangel’s SIFE Team distributed enough food for 270,000 meals. The team worked on improvements for the Teen Challenge Center, and Dr. Maynard gave a live broadcast to a reach of 27 million people for three days on Guatemala’s most watched TV station on hunger relief techniques. Since their time in Guatemala, Evangel’s SIFE Team has been invited by Convoy of Hope to assist in 11 different countries, and Global Teen Challenge has invited the Team to assist in 15 Latin American countries.
Students who participated included Natalie Akins (jr., Springfield, Mo.), Jochebed Garcia (so., El Centro, Calif.), Andrew Miller (sr., Newton, Kan.), Nicholas Reasor (sr., Nixa, Mo.), Stephen Robertson (sr., Lincoln, Mo.), and Darrell Whaley (sr., Springfield, Mo.).