The Association of Women in Agriculture (AWA) held their third annual Rally to Fight Hunger event on February 17th, 2018. The AWA partnered with the Alpha Gamma Rho-Iota fraternity with the goal of packaging 30,000 meals during the event.
74 people participated in this year’s event and their efforts well exceeded the goal, and they packaged 30,672 meals in just under three hours. AWA once again partnered with Kids Against Hunger – Rock County for this event as well. Kids Against Hunger provided the supplies for the meals. These meals will be sent to communities as close as Madison, and as far away as Kenya.
The Kids Against Hunger meals provide a source of easily digestible protein, carbohydrates and vitamins that are needed for malnourished children and adults. These meals also offer all nine essential amino acids required for complete nutrition, which is not typical of other food relief sources, according to Kids Against Hunger.
AWA members also had the opportunity to be sponsored by family and friends to fund the event. Members raised over $1,200 in donations.
The Rally to Fight Hunger is a service event that was started in 2016 by past AWA Service Coordinator, McKenzie Rowley. Current Service Coordinator, Abigail Martin, continued the event for its third year.
“Rally to Fight Hunger has been my favorite event to plan as the AWA Service Coordinator. There was a great deal excitement leading up to the event, and lots of sisters were eager to help out however they could,” said Martin. “The day of the event was full of fun and laughter with friends, and left myself and everyone who participated feeling of great sense of pride for what we just accomplished.”
AWA is a 501c7 non-profit professional student organization at the University of Wisconsin-Madison housed in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. The organization was founded in the spring of 1973 and now has a membership of over 100 young women and an alumni and associate members and friends’ membership of over 500 people who all share a passion for agriculture. The organization is built upon the three pillars of professional, service, and social with a goal of improving communication among women in agriculture and helping them achieve their goals.
For more information on the Association of Women in Agriculture visit, http://awamadison.org
