MAKING THE GRADE BY MAKING A DIFFERENCE WITH FOOD4KIDS EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR LENA BASSFORD Food4Kids provides packages of healthy food for at-risk children between the ages of four and 14 years who have limited or no access to food. Food4Kids provides weekend food for 1,335 children during the school year and we deliver food to the homes of 500 children during the summer. I got a call from Christine DiCarlo three years ago. Christine’s a professor in Mohawk’s Financial Services program. Every year, secondyear students take on a class project where they develop their prospecting skills and make a difference in the community. Christine asked if her students could raise money for Food4Kids. I said absolutely and when can we get started? We’ve been working with Christine and her colleague Mary Iannazzo ever since. Mohawk’s long been known as a first-rate postsecondary institution. It’s also a college with a heart. Students in Mohawk’s Financial Services program have raised more than $75,000 for Food4Kids. They’ve provided 200 children in our community with healthy food over each weekend for an entire year. Students have also raised enough money for us to launch eight school-based weekend food programs here in Hamilton. The enthusiasm and passion of Mohawk students to help the children we serve has been a real inspiration. A number of students have continued to volunteer with us after they graduated from Mohawk. Giving back to the community is one of the most important lessons students can learn. Two hundred children aren’t going to bed hungry because of students in Mohawk’s Financial Services program. They’re making a real difference.
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