UF students will host a benefit today to highlight the issue of food insecurity and world hunger.
S.T.E.A.M. Academy, an interdisciplinary organization that combines science, technology, engineering, arts and math disciplines, will host its first Hunger Benefit today from 7 to 10 p.m. in Emerson Alumni Hall.
“We really wanted to have a big event that would motivate the Gainesville community to take action locally and globally,” said Kiona Elliott, founder of UF’s S.T.E.A.M. Academy.
Elliott, a 20-year-old UF horticulture sophomore, said the event will include free food, two poetry performances, a West African drum and dance piece, music and three inspirational speakers.
One speaker is Levy Odera, a former UF professor who grew up in poverty.
At UF, Odera taught Poverty and Development in Africa, which inspired him to start a nonprofit organization, Rural Empowerment and Development Innovations, in 2013.
“REDI started as a vehicle where students can play a critical role in improving living standards of rural communities,” Odera said.
He said he came to the U.S. in 2003 with a strong personal mission to learn about poverty and to build connections that could help small businesses in Africa.
Odera will share his own story of growing up without food in his house at the Hunger Benefit. He will also touch on the need for smallholder farmers in Africa to increase production so they can earn more income.
Other speakers include Danielle Flood, public relations and communications manager of ECHO — a Fort Myers-based organization aiming to reduce hunger — and Tony Andenoro, project director of Challenge 2050 — a UF Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences initiative to sustain the world’s growing population.
The Bezos Family Foundation and Humanitarian Interactions on Campus are sponsoring the benefit. Tickets are not required, but seating is available upon reservation.
[A version of this story ran on page 3 on 3/24/2015 under the headline “STEAM event to talk about world hunger, food insecurity”]
