Maria Rock is no stranger to charity.
The senior in nutrition science and director of leadership development for the Center for Student Leadership, Ethics and Public Service, has participated for two years in Service N.C. State, an event sponsored by Stop Hunger Now and CSLEPS.
Rock said volunteering for Service N.C. State evolves each year along with the individual.
“You can do this year-to-year and be inspired and impacted differently each time,” Rock said.
According to Rock, both experiences were great, but she really enjoyed this year because she had the opportunity to play several roles in the event’s process.
“I really enjoyed this year, doing a lot of different roles and seeing the impact more fully than being at one station,” Rock said.
More than 1,500 volunteers participated in the either annual Stop Hunger Now event over the weekend and were asked to raise a $50 sponsorship fee, enough to feed approximately 200 people.
According to Mike Giancola, director of CSLEPS, the charity campaign packaged and sent 405,216 meals to Haiti.
“We’re still counting the money from this weekend and the pledges from the event, we should be close to $50,000 for that event,” Giancola said.
According to Giancola, the 500-Pint Blood drive, another aspect of Service N.C. State, also met its goal by drawing 569 pints from 725 donors, many of which were new donors. ”As a community we surpassed every one of those goals,” Giancola said. ”The N.C. State community certainly has the capacity to do more,” Giancola said. “It was a great event and I think the community did a really good job, but we have the capacity to do more. So as we evaluate those events, I can see us increasing our goals [for next year]. “ A $4,000 Stop Hunger Now donation was raised through a University Dining and Coca-cola partnership in March, which allowed Coke to donate 25 cents for every 20-ounce Coke purchased at a C-Store. Hannah Carpenter, a freshman in FYC, said she was excited when she found out the University was packaging meals for Haiti because she was involved with a similar event at her church which was successful. ”I just got so excited,” Carpenter said. “I was able to raise over $300.” Carpenter said she is looking forward to getting involved in CSLEPS because of Service N.C. State’s success. ”We packaged over 130,000 [meals] in my shift,” Carpenter said. “It was really fun and rewarding.”