Future sorority members package meals for day of service

Clad in red and white hairnets, a group of Penn State students — mostly freshmen, all women — filled Heritage Hall in the HUB-Robeson Center to give their time in the fight against hunger.

Sunday marked the first potential new member day of service for the university’s Panhellenic Council, which governs Penn State’s sororities. The council teamed up with Stop Hunger Now, a multinational organization dedicated to ending world hunger.

All the women helping in the event are going through sorority recruitment, said Carly Haffner, Penn State senior and council community development vice president. Members of several different sororities helped set up the event in the morning, leaving the work for the potential members.

“Service is a huge part of sorority life,” Haffner said, “so I wanted to give them a taste of the kind of things they would be doing when they joined.”

Donning the aforementioned hair nets, the women worked in teams scooping up rice, soy, vegetables, flavoring vitamins and minerals into plastic packages that will then go out to those in need. Pop music hits filled the hall as well, making quick work of the packaging.

One group said it only takes about 20 seconds to package a whole meal, which can feed up to six people. They said they found the event energizing — packing the food barely even seemed like work.

Freshman Elle O’Conner, who said the rush for sororities will likely begin Wednesday, said the fact that so many people came together and were putting the meals together so fast was inspiring.

“A lot of people don’t understand that the sororities at Penn State are based on service,” O’Conner said. “They take a stereotypical sorority and just see it as that.

“Most of the girls here are rushing in order to do service,” she said.

Packaging took place Sunday through different volunteer groups across the nation, said Stop Hunger Now Greensburg program manager Andrew Moser, who oversaw the Penn State event. The organization has packaged about 274 million meals during the past 10 years, he said, as well as aided in medical supplies and water projects.

The goal for Penn State on Sunday was 32,000 meals, he said.

This story was originally published August 28, 2016 at 10:48 PM with the headline "Future sorority members package meals for day of service."