By Mariana Navarrete, Arts & Culture Editor
Saint Leo University Ministry and Cross Catholic Outreach are hosting a service day activity on March 5. All Saint Leo students, faculty, staff, and community members are invited to register and attend this activity.
This Saturday, from 9:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m, members of the Saint Leo community will gather in the Student Community Center Boardrooms for a meal packaging service project. Gloves and hairnets will be provided for all volunteers.
The biggest volunteer group is the men’s soccer team, followed by the women’s soccer team and the University Ministry. The volunteer goal is 150, and, so far, there are about 180 volunteers signed up. The student group with the most sign-ups gets to dye University Chaplain Father Randall Meissen’s beard.
Rafael Soto, a political science major and member of Saint Leo University Ministry, will participate in Saturday’s Service Day.
“They are taking monetary donations, in case you do not have time to stay for the service activity,” Soto said.
Volunteers will package 40,000 meals. These meals will be sent through Cross Catholic Outreach for victims of natural disasters in Honduras, Guatemala, and Haiti.
Soto reflected that one service event a year hosted by the University Ministry might not be enough.
“I think we could do more events, especially directed to the people in need of Tampa,” Soto said. “However, as of right now, this service opportunity is a good start since it builds community for Saint Leo.”
A team of scientists and nutritionists from Cross Catholic Outreach developed a dry meal high in proteins, vitamins, and nutrients for humanitarian aid. That meal will be the one volunteers at Saint Leo will put into packages.
While Cross Catholic Outreach has a relationship with Saint Leo University Ministry, they have never done an event like this one.
“The food’s final destination is upon the organization’s decision; we do not know where it is going because the organization is the one that decides what county needs it at the time, ” said Angelica Molina. Molina is a student majoring in global studies with a minor in world politics. She is also the student service coordinator of the University Ministry.
The dry meal packages will provide immediate relief when harsh situations arise with natural disasters.
“It is not a long-lasting, sustainable solution to end hunger or whatsoever; there are more in-depth problems specific to each country revolving around food and hunger,” said Molina.
Molina hopes that this service activity builds consciousness among the Saint Leo community.
“Fortunately, we have a surplus of food in the cafeteria. We never fear about not having anything to eat the next day or the next couple of days,” Molina commented. “I have seen people leaving a lot of food, putting in their plates more than they will eat, for it to be wasted.”
Meissen discussed how the idea of the event originated.
“We wanted a service activity during Lent that involved a lot of students,” Meissen said.
Meissen explained that Cross Catholic Outreach uses the help of service projects in schools and colleges like Saint Leo’s Service Day happening on Saturday to put the dry food together in packages. They have a central warehouse to store it and be prepared when a natural disaster hits.
“Think of a hurricane or an earthquake, and you do not have time between when the disaster happens and when you need the food to put everything together; they are prepared,” Meissen said. “Through these food-packing events, they try to keep an adequate supply of packages in their warehouse to prepare for the worst.”
While the day the food packages are used is not known, the volunteers will help Cross Catholic Outreach be ready.
This is the biggest service event organized by University Ministry in recent years. Students can look forward to more service events within the university and focus on local needs.
