by Luke Butner

Village 401 is the leading volunteer organization of Greensboro College. In the past, Village 401 has done large events such as Neewollah, Project Leap and Angel Tree. These events were part of GC tradition until Covid hit a few years ago. However, Village 401 plans to bring back these events and a very large semester-long series of events named the Collegiate Hunger Challenge.  

The Collegiate Hunger Challenge, hosted by NC Campus Engagement and sponsored by Food Lion, encourages appointed student ambassadors to lead a series of events and a social media campaign aimed at raising awareness of food insecurity in North Carolina. There are 11 schools competing for the grand prize of $10,000 this year through this challenge.  

In order to win the grand prize, schools must earn the most points through events, social media and collecting the most food through food drives. In order to compete, each school must host five mandatory events. These events are the kickoff event, a “soupbowl” event, a food drive at Food Lion, a hunger and homelessness awareness week event and a grand finale event. However, to boost a school’s points, each school can host an additional six events, worth 250 extra points each.  

Another key aspect of the challenge is the social media campaign. Each school is given a hashtag they can use with each post they make to have it count towards this challenge. The posts can be anything related to hunger and the events we host as part of the challenge. Each post is worth an additional one point per post but can be reposted on all social media accounts that are public. 

The Collegian has had the pleasure of interviewing two key personnel to inquire about more information concerning the project. Dr. Robert Brewer is the Greensboro College campus Chaplain and project mentor for the Collegiate Hunger Challenge. He told us that he learned about the challenge directly from the host, NC campus engagement, which is “a group of NC Colleges and Universities who are dedicated to civic engagement in their communities. They [offered] this challenge in conjunction with Food Lion and so the opportunity arose this summer and [Village 401] applied to be part of it.”  

Dr. Brewer decided to be a part of this challenge because he believed that Greensboro College had a good chance of winning the grand prize and it was a good opportunity to raise awareness about hunger insecurity on our campus. “I also thought it would be fun and I knew a few students who would be interested in leading it. . . I am excited to work with Xypher and Luke and to see what we can accomplish together. I’m also excited that our intern, Tyler Smith, is supporting this project and [is helping to raise] awareness about the pantry on campus now. We are all looking forward to winning the $10,000 prize for our food pantry and with everyone’s help, I believe we can do it!”  

Dr. Brewer has been very openly passionate and vocal about food work through Village 401. He has so far, on top of the Collegiate hunger challenge, been part of organizing and assisting the operations of three Greensboro Colleges campus food pantries, two honors house food drives and is scheduling a Prof. Talk, of which he will go over food insecurity in Greensboro as well as the Collegiate Hunger Challenge. His food pantries and food drives have been very successful. Dr. Brewer and his team have collected over 300 items of food and toiletries through food drives and given away 300 lbs of food and toiletries through his food pantries. Needless to say, Dr. Brewer has influenced the lives of many students on the Greensboro College campus!  

The Collegian also reached out to Xypher Pino, who happens to be a student ambassador for the Collegiate Hunger Challenge. 

Pino said he joined the team because he thought it would be a fun and unique experience to be a part of. He said, “I have never done anything like this in my life, so I was pretty excited when I got the invitation for this event.” Pino also mentions that “[we] have tons of events planned for this semester– from huge food drives in collaboration with other organizations on campus to creative and trivia-like events– we have a lot planned. If you want to keep updated on everything though, go follow @gcpridepantry on [Instagram]- that is where you will learn about everything. . .The most exciting part of this challenge for me is working with my friend Luke and Dr. Brewer and seeing how far we can take this thing.” 

Pino has collaborated with Dr. Brewer and I through food drives in the past. Their food drives go directly to the GC campus pantries and to UNCG’s food pantries, which GC students are also served at.  

Pino explained that his role in the Collegiate Hunger Challenge is to lead Greensboro College’s massive social media campaign and marketing team. Pino plans to post over 1,000 times on social media throughout the duration of the challenge. Through this, he hopes to become more creative and organized, putting a large emphasis on becoming a better leader.  

As a student ambassador for this challenge myself, it is really exciting to work with Xypher Pino, Tyler Smith and Dr. Robert Brewer through this new challenge. Although we may face some difficulties throughout the Challenge, I am confident that we have such a strong team that we will come out on top and win this challenge. It is an absolute pleasure to work with the Village 401 team because everyone is so lovely to work with, brilliant and they always radiate positive vibes. Everybody on the Village 401 team is super eager to make a difference in their community!