Seven thousand and seven hundred Alachua County children don't know where their next meal will come from, and 594 Alachua County students don't know where they are sleeping tonight.
The 15 Percent and Transient Children of Alachua County, two groups formed from the Social Media and Social Responsibility class, have set out to tell the stories of the homeless and the food insecure in Alachua County.
Both groups held events Friday to engage the UF community in the fight against poverty.
The 15 Percent, which mainly tackles the issue of hunger, hosted "Occupy Tummies," a canned-food drive during which 60 cans and $83.22 in donations were collected. The event, which was also hosted by Center for Leadership and Service, was held on the Reitz Union Colonnade.
Monetary donations benefited the Bread of the Mighty Food Bank, which has helped distribute more than 4 million pounds of food to the hungry and food insecure of North Central Florida in the past fiscal year.
The canned donations collected at the event contributed to the efforts of 2011 Alachua County Public Schools Winter Break Food Drive, which put together 500 holiday food baskets to send to students' families.
"[The baskets go] to students whose families struggle to put food on the table," said Beth Nahlik, CLS assistant director.
Students were also invited to view The 15 Percent's presentation, which documented the stories of some of the 18 percent of people in Alachua County who are food insecure.
Members from the CLS were available to provide one-on-one consultations for students interested in getting involved in the Gainesville community.
"We want to promote that hands-on connection," said Grier Ferguson, The 15 Percent team member.
Representatives from United Way of North Central Florida and Bread of the Mighty Food Bank were also at the event to encourage students to volunteer for their cause.
"You just never know when it's going to be you," said Debie Talbot, Bread of the Mighty Food Bank development coordinator.
Transient Children of Alachua County, which focused mainly on homelessness, brought attention to the almost 600 homeless students in Alachua County.
As part of the group's "HOMELESS for the Holidays" event, more than 100 students gathered from noon to 2 p.m. on the Plaza of the Americas to sign and decorate two posters to be sent to the Interface Hospitality Network and the St. Francis House.
"We're finishing up finals, and we're going to go home for the holidays, but these students don't have a home for the holidays," said Megan Duncan, 28, Transient Children of Alachua County team member and second-year journalism graduate student.
A representative from St. Francis House and the Alachua County Homeless Education coordinator were on site to encourage students to get involved in helping the Gainesville homeless population.
After hearing the statistics on the local homeless student population, 19-year-old psychology sophomore Deborah Reano said she felt privileged.
"It's easy to think that your life is so hard when you have two finals and a paper all due on the same day," she said, "but I could never imagine how it would feel to not have a roof over my head."
Angela Zhang collects canned food on the Reitz Union Colonnade on Friday during a food drive hosted by the the Center of Leadership and Service and The 15 percent.
