by Xypher Pino

On September 18, Greensboro College officially hosted their first event for the North Carolina Collegiate Hunger Challenge. Led by Village 401’s Pride Pantry team – me, Luke Butner, community service coordinator Tyler Smith and campus Chaplin Dr. Robert Brewer – the event was very interactive. From playing cup pong to popping balloons, this was certainly a fun and creative way to learn about the Collegiate Hunger Challenge. 

Participants first had to scan a QR code which led them to an online questionnaire which had questions relating to the hunger challenge. There were five questions in total, which might seem a lot for some people, but getting the answers was easy and fun – the participants simply had to play and complete four different games at four different stations. 

The first station was called “Mystery Light.” For this game, participants had to use a UV light and search across multiple sheets of paper for the answer. The answers were written using invisible ink, hence the need for UV light. After searching, the participants found out what exactly the NC Collegiate Hunger Challenge is – it is a competition amongst other universities all revolving around tackling food insecurity and battling the hunger crisis in NC. 

This was one of my favorite stations to come up with. For all the games, not only did I want them to be fun and informative, but I also wanted them to be unique. When the thought for this game came about, I was watching a documentary about a mysterious crime that to this day has not been solved. While watching the documentary, something in my brain clicked and I thought it would be great to have participants roleplay as a detective to find the answer to the question. 

The second station was named “Cup Pong.” This one was straightforward and was just like regular cup pong – participants simply had to bounce a ping pong ball into a set of cups to receive their answer. After successfully bouncing the ball in the cup, the participants would know what to expect from GC this semester in regard to the hunger challenge – not only will there be more fun interactive events like this, but there will be lots of food drives hosted and plenty of discussions held regarding food insecurity.

When people were playing this game, to my surprise, a lot of people did not actually know what cup pong was. I had always thought that cup pong was a common game which a lot of people had already played, and if not, at least have heard about it. I was mistaken – I had to thoroughly explain the rules of the game to many people, which was a very surprising experience, to say the least. 

The third station, and my favorite station, was “Digging for Treasure.” This game required the participants to dig through boxes of sand to find out exactly why GC is participating in this competition. Participants could have either used their hands or a small shovel, though I found that using your hands was more effective. Many people struggled in this event as they were too soft with the sand and did not want to really get in there, especially those that used the shovel. After a while though, the participants would find that the college could win up to $10,000 if GC wins this competition., hence why the game was named “Digging for Treasure.” Just like pirates, participants were literally searching and digging through actual sand for the treasured answer – the $10,000 grand prize. 

The final station was “Pop the Balloon.” As you might expect, this game had participants take a dart and pop one of three balloons pinned on a board. The popping of the balloons told participants how to support GC in this challenge – by following @gcpridepantry on Instagram, volunteering and assisting in planning events for the semester or simply participating in the events.  

I really loved the idea of this station for two reasons. One, the participants got to pop balloons and destroy things – who would not want to do that? Two, the noise which the balloon popping created was extremely loud, which attracted tons of attention from students simply walking by.  

This event was an absolute success. We had so many people come up and play that we ran out of gift bags to give out, and we had 50 gift bags made for this event! This was not too big of an issue as we had other rewards ready, but that was a good measure of our success. Also, not only did the participants get a chance to step away from the college stresses, but they got to learn everything they needed to know about the NC Collegiate Hunger Challenge. If you did not get a chance to participate in this event, do not worry – we have tons more events planned this semester and they will be just as fun, if not even more fun, than this event. After reading through this article, I hope you are just as excited as the GC Pride Pantry team are with the NC Collegiate Hunger Challenge.