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On MLK Day, Students Continued King's Work to Feed the Hungry

Duke students join with the Rotary Club to provide meals for local food banks

Duke and NCCU student fill up packages filled with meals for local food banks.
Duke students fill up packages filled with meals for local food banks.

Durham Mayor Steve Schewel was on hand to support around 250 Duke students during the Rotary Club’s annual Million Meals event Monday on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

The students packed 100,000 meals for local food banks to feed the hungry. The MLK Day meal-packing event was started by Triangle-area Rotary clubs, which provide most of the funding for the $30,000 project. Other funding is provided by Duke University, with a $5,000 donation, which also provides transportation from Duke’s campus for students volunteering at the event; typically half the volunteers are from the Duke community.

“We join hands with all this year’s partners to celebrate the King holiday with a day of service that includes our Duke staff and students,” said Sam Miglarese, deputy chief administrator at Duke’s Office of Durham and Community Affairs. 

Rotary partners with the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle to distribute the meals to local food banks, including those in Durham, Orange and Wake counties.

“It’s been important to our volunteers and organizers that the food stay in our local community,” said committee chairwoman and Southwest Durham Rotary member Joyce McKinney. “Food insecurity is a huge issue right here in Durham and other parts of North Carolina, where one child in five is at risk for hunger. Inter-Faith Food Shuttle knows where the needs are greatest, which is why we partner with them.”

WTVD-TV was on hand to report on the event.

Duke students, wearing t-shirts honoring African-American pioneers at the university, pack meals Monday.